Hi,
how about "write" instead of "type"? Just came to me in a flash of inspiration.
I know it's also pretty general but at least it's not a built-in!
Thanks!
Michael
On Friday, November 23, 2012 11:30:18 PM UTC+1, Cameron Simpson wrote:
> On 23Nov2012 10:41, Michael Herrmann <> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> | I know it's a common beginner's mistake to incautiously override
>
> | built-in functions. However, we put in a lot of research and have come to
>
> | the conclusion that, if Python had not already defined it, `type` would
>
> | be the best name. We are now trying to evaluate how bad the disadvantages
>
> | you mention are in comparison to the advantage to having a name that is
>
> | more intuitive to use in the problem domain.
>
> |
>
> | Can you somehow relate to my explanations, or are your experiences
>
> | with overwriting built-in variables so bad that you would advise to
>
> | never ever do it?
>
>
>
> My own experience says that it is a thing best avoiding without a truly
>
> amazing reason not to.
>
>
>
> I urge you not to: type(foo) is a very basic Python idiom and you're
>
> breaking it. One day it _will_ bite you or your users. You will
>
> understand, but I would give goods odds that some of your users will not
>
> the day they go to examine the type of an object for perfectly normal
>
> pythonic reasons.
>
>
>
> Example: I have a module that stores "objects" and they have as a
>
> primary key a "name" and a "type" - not Python types, just strings.
>
> Accordingly I have a similar situation to yours: the desire to use the
>
> word "type". Fortunately for me, as an attribute in (usually small) code
>
> chunks I can usually go:
>
>
>
> t = foo.type
>
> ... work with t here ...
>
>
>
> Where I must pass one as a parameter I use the common convention of
>
> naming the parameter "type_" at the receiving end.
>
>
>
> For the calling end, as in your case, you want to use:
>
>
>
> type(blah)
>
>
>
> Is it at all possible to make all uses of your "type" function method
>
> calls? Eg:
>
>
>
> something.type("text to type")
>
>
>
> It avoids the overloading while keeping your desired name.
>
> --
>
> Cameron Simpson
>
>
>
> Wouldn't it be great if all emergency stopping situations occurred on your
>
> favourite bit of road......you'd probably know about it before it happened
>
> and would be able to take other evasive action.
>
> - Neville Brabet
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