On Mon, 07 Jul 2014 00:36:23 +0800, Shiyao Ma wrote: > Hi Pythonistas > > I often heard people mention use help(ob) as a way of documentation look > up. Personally I seldom/never do that. My normal workflow is use > ipython, obj? or obj?? for quick look up or use docs.python.org for a > detailed read. > > Do you use `help`? How does it integrate into your workflow?
I frequently use the help() function. (By the way, a little trivia for you: although the help function is in the built-in namespace, it is not actually a built-in! When you start Python interactively, the site.py script runs automatically, creates the help() function, and monkey-patches it into the builtins namespace.) I rarely use ipython, I use the regular Python interactive interpreter, so obj? and obj?? aren't an option. My usual workflow is to have at least one Python interpreter open at all times. If I don't remember the parameters for a method or function, I'll call help(class.method) or help(function). If I'm not sure what the method is called, I'll usually call help(class) or help(module). If there are too many things in the class or module, I'll use dir() to inspect it first. I have a monkey-patched version of dir() which takes a second argument, a glob, to filter the list of names returned: py> len(dir(os)) # Too much! 312 py> dir(os, 'env') ['_putenv', '_unsetenv', 'environ', 'environb', 'getenv', 'getenvb', 'putenv', 'supports_bytes_environ', 'unsetenv'] py> dir(os, 'env*') ['environ', 'environb'] -- Steven -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
