On Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:11:48 +0100, Bruno Desthuilliers wrote: > Fine. Now since Python let you define your own callable types and your > own descriptors, you can as well have an attribute that behave just like > a method without being an instance of any of the method types - so the > above test defeats duck typing. And since you can have callable > attributes that are definitively not methods, you can't rely on the fact > that an attribute is callable neither.
I did say the usual way was to call it and see what happens :) (In Python3, I understand that is what callable() will do. Let's hope that the function called has no side-effects.) I also didn't mention classmethods, staticmethods or functions assigned to attributes. As Ton van Vliet is a beginner, I didn't think he needed to be flooded with too many complications all at once. It's quite possible to program in Python for years and never come across a callable attribute that isn't an ordinary method. Also, I wasn't actually thinking about testing for methods before calling them. Given the context, I was thinking more about manual experimentation at the interpreter. Perhaps I should have said. -- Steven. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
