Unit testing errors (testing the platform module)

[J. Cliff Dyer]

On Wed, 2010-04-14 at 15:51 +0100, john maclean wrote:
> self.assertEqual(platform.__builtins__.__class__, dict,
> "platform.__class__ supposed to be dict")
> self.assertEqual(platform.__name__, 'platform' ) 

The preferred spelling for:

    platform.__builtins__.__class__ 

would be

    type(platform.__builtins__)

It's shorter and easier to read, but essentially says the same thing.

You can also use it on integer literals, which you can't do with your
syntax:

    >>> type(1)
    <type 'int'>
    >>> 1.__class__
    ...
    SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Admittedly, this is a trivial benefit.  If you're using a literal, you
already know what type you're dealing with.

Cheers,
Cliff