Distinguishing attributes and methods

[James Stroud]

tjhnson at gmail.com wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> With properties, attributes and methods seem very similar.  I was
> wondering what techniques people use to give clues to end users as to
> which 'things' are methods and which are attributes.  With ipython, I
> use tab completion all the time, but I can rarely tell from the names
> alone whether it is an attribute or method.
> 
> Tips? Ideas? Best practices?
> 
> Here is one idea: Ipython should color-code the tab completion based
> on attributes and methods.

Sure. Import types and test, then color code based on the test result.

For example:

py> import types
py> def doit(stuff):
...   print stuff
...
py> class Thing(object):
...   def amethod(self):
...     print 42
...
py> t = Thing()
py> type(t.amethod) is types.MethodType
True
py> type(t.doit) is types.FunctionType
True
py> type(Thing.amethod) is types.UnboundMethodType
True
py> t.value = 4
py> type(t.value) not in (types.FunctionType, types.UnboundMethodType, 
types.MethodType)
True


James

-- 
James Stroud
UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics
Box 951570
Los Angeles, CA 90095

http://www.jamesstroud.com