[Python-Dev] inspect.getargspec()

[Tim Peters]

[Patrick K. O'Brien]
> ...
> * Is there any reason to not expand the scope of getargspec()?

No -- go for it.

> * For builtin functions whose arguments cannot be determined (at
>   least not that I know of)

Those implemented in C are indeed hopeless; I expect that's all of them.

>   what should getargspec() do? Should it raise an error or return empty
>   values?

What does it do now?  Don't rock the boot needlessly <wink>.

> * For a bound method, should getargspec() include the first argument
> (usually self) since Python passes that value implicitly?

Unfortunately, Python is inconsistent about this.  On the one hand,

>>> x = []
>>> push = x.append
>>> push()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
TypeError: append() takes exactly one argument (0 given)
>>>

On the other,

>>> class X(list):
...     def append(self, item):
...         pass
...
>>> push = X().append
>>> push()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
TypeError: append() takes exactly 2 arguments (1 given)
>>>

I care about matching the error msgs because error msgs are a prime trigger
for looking up help.  OTOH, when the error msgs are inconsistent, you can't
win.  I'd count self, myself, as you can only suck the signature out of
Python-defined callables, and those seem consistent about reporting the
"real" number of arguments required.

> Perhaps there should be a optional argument to toggle this.

Bleech.

no-time-for-more-ly y'rs  - tim