On Saturday, August 14, 2010, cousteau <cousteaulecommand...@gmail.com> wrote: > On 12 ago, 11:38, Jason Grout <jason-s...@creativetrax.com> wrote: >> >> Well, there is a general trend towards using functions instead of >> attributes in Sage. I think the main reason is for documentation (I >> wish python had attribute docstrings that we could query!). >> > > They wouldn't be attributes (that would involve having several copies > of the matrix data in the object), they would rather be properties. A > property is a method that looks like an attribute (it doesn't use > parenthesis), but calls a function each time it's used. E
Thanks for the clarification. I'm sure Jason meant properties, which still *do* have exactly the issue he described, despite the existence of a function call. There is no "trend" though away from properties in Sage - we never used them, since they suck from an introspection *and* consistency perspective. > xample: > > sage: class Foo: > ....: @property > ....: def bar(self): > ....: """This is a function that returns 'hello'.""" > ....: return 'hello' > ....: > sage: a=Foo() > sage: a.bar > 'hello' > sage: a.bar? > Type: property > Base Class: <type 'property'> > String Form: <property object at 0xb2822fc> > Namespace: Interactive > Docstring: > This is a function that returns 'hello'. > (...) > > -- > To post to this group, send an email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to > sage-devel+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel > URL: http://www.sagemath.org > -- William Stein Professor of Mathematics University of Washington http://wstein.org -- To post to this group, send an email to sage-devel@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to sage-devel+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URL: http://www.sagemath.org
