Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
pythongh-96265: Formatting changes for faq/programming (pythonGH-98242)
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history
* Formatting changes for faq/programming

* Add missing method formatting, use non-literal formatting

* Fix sphinx warnings

* Some extra formatting missed earlier

* More formatting suggestions from review

Co-authored-by: C.A.M. Gerlach <CAM.Gerlach@Gerlach.CAM>

* Add missing colon, avoid referening external module

(cherry picked from commit 0689b99)

Co-authored-by: Stanley <46876382+slateny@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: C.A.M. Gerlach <CAM.Gerlach@Gerlach.CAM>
  • Loading branch information
2 people authored and miss-islington committed Nov 2, 2022
1 parent b2e28c8 commit 4a30220
Showing 1 changed file with 48 additions and 39 deletions.
87 changes: 48 additions & 39 deletions Doc/faq/programming.rst
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -25,8 +25,9 @@ Reference Manual <pdb>`. You can also write your own debugger by using the code
for pdb as an example.

The IDLE interactive development environment, which is part of the standard
Python distribution (normally available as Tools/scripts/idle), includes a
graphical debugger.
Python distribution (normally available as
`Tools/scripts/idle3 <https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/main/Tools/scripts/idle3>`_),
includes a graphical debugger.

PythonWin is a Python IDE that includes a GUI debugger based on pdb. The
PythonWin debugger colors breakpoints and has quite a few cool features such as
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -78,7 +79,8 @@ set of modules required by a program and bind these modules together with a
Python binary to produce a single executable.

One is to use the freeze tool, which is included in the Python source tree as
``Tools/freeze``. It converts Python byte code to C arrays; with a C compiler you can
`Tools/freeze <https://github.com/python/cpython/tree/main/Tools/freeze>`_.
It converts Python byte code to C arrays; with a C compiler you can
embed all your modules into a new program, which is then linked with the
standard Python modules.

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -114,7 +116,7 @@ Core Language
Why am I getting an UnboundLocalError when the variable has a value?
--------------------------------------------------------------------

It can be a surprise to get the UnboundLocalError in previously working
It can be a surprise to get the :exc:`UnboundLocalError` in previously working
code when it is modified by adding an assignment statement somewhere in
the body of a function.

Expand All @@ -123,6 +125,7 @@ This code:
>>> x = 10
>>> def bar():
... print(x)
...
>>> bar()
10

Expand All @@ -133,7 +136,7 @@ works, but this code:
... print(x)
... x += 1

results in an UnboundLocalError:
results in an :exc:`!UnboundLocalError`:

>>> foo()
Traceback (most recent call last):
Expand All @@ -155,6 +158,7 @@ global:
... global x
... print(x)
... x += 1
...
>>> foobar()
10

Expand All @@ -176,6 +180,7 @@ keyword:
... x += 1
... bar()
... print(x)
...
>>> foo()
10
11
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -273,7 +278,7 @@ main.py::
import mod
print(config.x)

Note that using a module is also the basis for implementing the Singleton design
Note that using a module is also the basis for implementing the singleton design
pattern, for the same reason.


Expand All @@ -291,9 +296,9 @@ using multiple imports per line uses less screen space.

It's good practice if you import modules in the following order:

1. standard library modules -- e.g. ``sys``, ``os``, ``getopt``, ``re``
1. standard library modules -- e.g. :mod:`sys`, :mod:`os`, :mod:`argparse`, :mod:`re`
2. third-party library modules (anything installed in Python's site-packages
directory) -- e.g. mx.DateTime, ZODB, PIL.Image, etc.
directory) -- e.g. :mod:`!dateutil`, :mod:`!requests`, :mod:`!PIL.Image`
3. locally developed modules

It is sometimes necessary to move imports to a function or class to avoid
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -471,7 +476,7 @@ object ``x`` refers to). After this assignment we have two objects (the ints

Some operations (for example ``y.append(10)`` and ``y.sort()``) mutate the
object, whereas superficially similar operations (for example ``y = y + [10]``
and ``sorted(y)``) create a new object. In general in Python (and in all cases
and :func:`sorted(y) <sorted>`) create a new object. In general in Python (and in all cases
in the standard library) a method that mutates an object will return ``None``
to help avoid getting the two types of operations confused. So if you
mistakenly write ``y.sort()`` thinking it will give you a sorted copy of ``y``,
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -644,7 +649,7 @@ Sequences can be copied by slicing::
How can I find the methods or attributes of an object?
------------------------------------------------------

For an instance x of a user-defined class, ``dir(x)`` returns an alphabetized
For an instance ``x`` of a user-defined class, :func:`dir(x) <dir>` returns an alphabetized
list of the names containing the instance attributes and methods and attributes
defined by its class.

Expand All @@ -669,9 +674,9 @@ callable. Consider the following code::
<__main__.A object at 0x16D07CC>

Arguably the class has a name: even though it is bound to two names and invoked
through the name B the created instance is still reported as an instance of
class A. However, it is impossible to say whether the instance's name is a or
b, since both names are bound to the same value.
through the name ``B`` the created instance is still reported as an instance of
class ``A``. However, it is impossible to say whether the instance's name is ``a`` or
``b``, since both names are bound to the same value.

Generally speaking it should not be necessary for your code to "know the names"
of particular values. Unless you are deliberately writing introspective
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -841,7 +846,7 @@ How do I get int literal attribute instead of SyntaxError?
----------------------------------------------------------

Trying to lookup an ``int`` literal attribute in the normal manner gives
a syntax error because the period is seen as a decimal point::
a :exc:`SyntaxError` because the period is seen as a decimal point::

>>> 1.__class__
File "<stdin>", line 1
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -887,7 +892,7 @@ leading '0' in a decimal number (except '0').
How do I convert a number to a string?
--------------------------------------

To convert, e.g., the number 144 to the string '144', use the built-in type
To convert, e.g., the number ``144`` to the string ``'144'``, use the built-in type
constructor :func:`str`. If you want a hexadecimal or octal representation, use
the built-in functions :func:`hex` or :func:`oct`. For fancy formatting, see
the :ref:`f-strings` and :ref:`formatstrings` sections,
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -1006,11 +1011,11 @@ Not as such.
For simple input parsing, the easiest approach is usually to split the line into
whitespace-delimited words using the :meth:`~str.split` method of string objects
and then convert decimal strings to numeric values using :func:`int` or
:func:`float`. ``split()`` supports an optional "sep" parameter which is useful
:func:`float`. :meth:`!split()` supports an optional "sep" parameter which is useful
if the line uses something other than whitespace as a separator.

For more complicated input parsing, regular expressions are more powerful
than C's :c:func:`sscanf` and better suited for the task.
than C's ``sscanf`` and better suited for the task.


What does 'UnicodeDecodeError' or 'UnicodeEncodeError' error mean?
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -1206,15 +1211,16 @@ difference is that a Python list can contain objects of many different types.

The ``array`` module also provides methods for creating arrays of fixed types
with compact representations, but they are slower to index than lists. Also
note that NumPy and other third party packages define array-like structures with
note that `NumPy <https://numpy.org/>`_
and other third party packages define array-like structures with
various characteristics as well.

To get Lisp-style linked lists, you can emulate cons cells using tuples::
To get Lisp-style linked lists, you can emulate *cons cells* using tuples::

lisp_list = ("like", ("this", ("example", None) ) )

If mutability is desired, you could use lists instead of tuples. Here the
analogue of lisp car is ``lisp_list[0]`` and the analogue of cdr is
analogue of a Lisp *car* is ``lisp_list[0]`` and the analogue of *cdr* is
``lisp_list[1]``. Only do this if you're sure you really need to, because it's
usually a lot slower than using Python lists.

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -1334,11 +1340,12 @@ that even though there was an error, the append worked::
['foo', 'item']

To see why this happens, you need to know that (a) if an object implements an
``__iadd__`` magic method, it gets called when the ``+=`` augmented assignment
:meth:`~object.__iadd__` magic method, it gets called when the ``+=`` augmented
assignment
is executed, and its return value is what gets used in the assignment statement;
and (b) for lists, ``__iadd__`` is equivalent to calling ``extend`` on the list
and (b) for lists, :meth:`!__iadd__` is equivalent to calling :meth:`~list.extend` on the list
and returning the list. That's why we say that for lists, ``+=`` is a
"shorthand" for ``list.extend``::
"shorthand" for :meth:`!list.extend`::

>>> a_list = []
>>> a_list += [1]
Expand All @@ -1363,7 +1370,7 @@ Thus, in our tuple example what is happening is equivalent to::
...
TypeError: 'tuple' object does not support item assignment

The ``__iadd__`` succeeds, and thus the list is extended, but even though
The :meth:`!__iadd__` succeeds, and thus the list is extended, but even though
``result`` points to the same object that ``a_tuple[0]`` already points to,
that final assignment still results in an error, because tuples are immutable.

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -1440,7 +1447,8 @@ See also :ref:`why-self`.
How do I check if an object is an instance of a given class or of a subclass of it?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Use the built-in function ``isinstance(obj, cls)``. You can check if an object
Use the built-in function :func:`isinstance(obj, cls) <isinstance>`. You can
check if an object
is an instance of any of a number of classes by providing a tuple instead of a
single class, e.g. ``isinstance(obj, (class1, class2, ...))``, and can also
check whether an object is one of Python's built-in types, e.g.
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -1537,21 +1545,22 @@ Here the ``UpperOut`` class redefines the ``write()`` method to convert the
argument string to uppercase before calling the underlying
``self._outfile.write()`` method. All other methods are delegated to the
underlying ``self._outfile`` object. The delegation is accomplished via the
``__getattr__`` method; consult :ref:`the language reference <attribute-access>`
:meth:`~object.__getattr__` method; consult :ref:`the language reference <attribute-access>`
for more information about controlling attribute access.

Note that for more general cases delegation can get trickier. When attributes
must be set as well as retrieved, the class must define a :meth:`__setattr__`
must be set as well as retrieved, the class must define a :meth:`~object.__setattr__`
method too, and it must do so carefully. The basic implementation of
:meth:`__setattr__` is roughly equivalent to the following::
:meth:`!__setattr__` is roughly equivalent to the following::

class X:
...
def __setattr__(self, name, value):
self.__dict__[name] = value
...

Most :meth:`__setattr__` implementations must modify ``self.__dict__`` to store
Most :meth:`!__setattr__` implementations must modify
:meth:`self.__dict__ <object.__dict__>` to store
local state for self without causing an infinite recursion.


Expand Down Expand Up @@ -1689,25 +1698,25 @@ My class defines __del__ but it is not called when I delete the object.

There are several possible reasons for this.

The del statement does not necessarily call :meth:`__del__` -- it simply
The :keyword:`del` statement does not necessarily call :meth:`~object.__del__` -- it simply
decrements the object's reference count, and if this reaches zero
:meth:`__del__` is called.
:meth:`!__del__` is called.

If your data structures contain circular links (e.g. a tree where each child has
a parent reference and each parent has a list of children) the reference counts
will never go back to zero. Once in a while Python runs an algorithm to detect
such cycles, but the garbage collector might run some time after the last
reference to your data structure vanishes, so your :meth:`__del__` method may be
reference to your data structure vanishes, so your :meth:`!__del__` method may be
called at an inconvenient and random time. This is inconvenient if you're trying
to reproduce a problem. Worse, the order in which object's :meth:`__del__`
to reproduce a problem. Worse, the order in which object's :meth:`!__del__`
methods are executed is arbitrary. You can run :func:`gc.collect` to force a
collection, but there *are* pathological cases where objects will never be
collected.

Despite the cycle collector, it's still a good idea to define an explicit
``close()`` method on objects to be called whenever you're done with them. The
``close()`` method can then remove attributes that refer to subobjects. Don't
call :meth:`__del__` directly -- :meth:`__del__` should call ``close()`` and
call :meth:`!__del__` directly -- :meth:`!__del__` should call ``close()`` and
``close()`` should make sure that it can be called more than once for the same
object.

Expand All @@ -1724,7 +1733,7 @@ and sibling references (if they need them!).
Normally, calling :func:`sys.exc_clear` will take care of this by clearing
the last recorded exception.
Finally, if your :meth:`__del__` method raises an exception, a warning message
Finally, if your :meth:`!__del__` method raises an exception, a warning message
is printed to :data:`sys.stderr`.


Expand Down Expand Up @@ -1852,8 +1861,8 @@ For example, here is the implementation of
How can a subclass control what data is stored in an immutable instance?
------------------------------------------------------------------------

When subclassing an immutable type, override the :meth:`__new__` method
instead of the :meth:`__init__` method. The latter only runs *after* an
When subclassing an immutable type, override the :meth:`~object.__new__` method
instead of the :meth:`~object.__init__` method. The latter only runs *after* an
instance is created, which is too late to alter data in an immutable
instance.

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -1955,8 +1964,8 @@ can't be made to work because it cannot detect changes to the
attributes.

To make the *lru_cache* approach work when the *station_id* is mutable,
the class needs to define the *__eq__* and *__hash__* methods so that
the cache can detect relevant attribute updates::
the class needs to define the :meth:`~object.__eq__` and :meth:`~object.__hash__`
methods so that the cache can detect relevant attribute updates::

class Weather:
"Example with a mutable station identifier"
Expand Down

0 comments on commit 4a30220

Please sign in to comment.