See exactly what a function has returned

[Brad Tilley]

Roy Smith wrote:
> In article <ci9tfk$71t$1 at solaris.cc.vt.edu>,
>  Brad Tilley <bradtilley at usa.net> wrote:
> 
> 
>>Is there an easier way to do this:
>>
>>def print_whats_returned(function):
>>     print function
>>     print type(function)
> 
> 
> In the general case, this is not possible.  A function can return 
> different things at different times.  Consider the following function:
> 
> def getSomething ():
>    if random.random () < 0.5:
>       return 42
>    else:
>       return "fourty-two"
> 
> so what type would you say this returns?

Depends on what randon.random came up with. Either way, we'd know what 
the function returned and what type it was... and that's all I want to know.