Update docs

This commit is contained in:
Joe Farebrother
2025-07-24 16:01:57 +01:00
parent 362bfba049
commit 871688f026
7 changed files with 52 additions and 79 deletions

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@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ When the expression <code>a + b</code> is evaluated the Python virtual machine w
is not implemented it will call <code>type(b).__radd__(b, a)</code>.</p>
<p>
Since the virtual machine calls these special methods for common expressions, users of the class will expect these operations to raise standard exceptions.
For example, users would expect that the expression <code>a.b</code> might raise an <code>AttributeError</code>
For example, users would expect that the expression <code>a.b</code> may raise an <code>AttributeError</code>
if the object <code>a</code> does not have an attribute <code>b</code>.
If a <code>KeyError</code> were raised instead,
then this would be unexpected and may break code that expected an <code>AttributeError</code>, but not a <code>KeyError</code>.
@@ -20,18 +20,18 @@ Therefore, if a method is unable to perform the expected operation then its resp
</p>
<ul>
<li>Attribute access, <code>a.b</code>: Raise <code>AttributeError</code></li>
<li>Arithmetic operations, <code>a + b</code>: Do not raise an exception, return <code>NotImplemented</code> instead.</li>
<li>Indexing, <code>a[b]</code>: Raise <code>KeyError</code>.</li>
<li>Hashing, <code>hash(a)</code>: Use <code>__hash__ = None</code> to indicate that an object is unhashable.</li>
<li>Equality methods, <code>a != b</code>: Never raise an exception, always return <code>True</code> or <code>False</code>.</li>
<li>Ordering comparison methods, <code>a &lt; b</code>: Raise a <code>TypeError</code> if the objects cannot be ordered.</li>
<li>Attribute access, <code>a.b</code> (<code>__getattr__</code>): Raise <code>AttributeError</code></li>
<li>Arithmetic operations, <code>a + b</code> (<code>__add__</code>): Do not raise an exception, return <code>NotImplemented</code> instead.</li>
<li>Indexing, <code>a[b]</code> (<code>__getitem__</code>): Raise <code>KeyError</code> or <code>IndexError</code>.</li>
<li>Hashing, <code>hash(a)</code> (<code>__hash__</code>): Should not raise an exception. Use <code>__hash__ = None</code> to indicate that an object is unhashable rather than raising an exception.</li>
<li>Equality methods, <code>a == b</code> (<code>__eq__</code>): Never raise an exception, always return <code>True</code> or <code>False</code>.</li>
<li>Ordering comparison methods, <code>a &lt; b</code> (<code>__lt__</code>): Raise a <code>TypeError</code> if the objects cannot be ordered.</li>
<li>Most others: Ideally, do not implement the method at all, otherwise raise <code>TypeError</code> to indicate that the operation is unsupported.</li>
</ul>
</overview>
<recommendation>
<p>If the method is meant to be abstract, then declare it so using the <code>@abstractmethod</code> decorator.
<p>If the method is intended to be abstract, then declare it so using the <code>@abstractmethod</code> decorator.
Otherwise, either remove the method or ensure that the method raises an exception of the correct type.
</p>
@@ -39,31 +39,29 @@ Otherwise, either remove the method or ensure that the method raises an exceptio
<example>
<p>
This example shows two unhashable classes. The first class is unhashable in a non-standard way which may cause maintenance problems.
The second, corrected, class uses the standard idiom for unhashable classes.
In the following example, the <code>__add__</code> method of <code>A</code> raises a <code>TypeError</code> if <code>other</code> is of the wrong type.
However, it should return <code>NotImplemented</code> instead of rising an exception, to allow other classes to support adding to <code>A</code>.
This is demonstrated in the class <code>B</code>.
</p>
<sample src="IncorrectRaiseInSpecialMethod.py" />
<sample src="examples/IncorrectRaiseInSpecialMethod.py" />
<p>
In this example, the first class is implicitly abstract; the <code>__add__</code> method is unimplemented,
presumably with the expectation that it will be implemented by sub-classes.
The second class makes this explicit with an <code>@abstractmethod</code> decoration on the unimplemented <code>__add__</code> method.
In the following example, the <code>__getitem__</code> method of <code>C</code> raises a <code>ValueError</code>, rather than a <code>KeyError</code> or <code>IndexError</code> as expected.
</p>
<sample src="IncorrectRaiseInSpecialMethod2.py" />
<sample src="examples/IncorrectRaiseInSpecialMethod2.py" />
<p>
In this last example, the first class implements a collection backed by the file store.
However, should an <code>IOError</code> be raised in the <code>__getitem__</code> it will propagate to the caller.
The second class handles any <code>IOError</code> by reraising a <code>KeyError</code> which is the standard exception for
the <code>__getitem__</code> method.
In the following example, the class <code>__hash__</code> method of <code>D</code> raises <code>TypeError</code>.
This causes <code>D</code> to be incorrectly identified as hashable by <code>isinstance(obj, collections.abc.Hashable)</code>; so the correct
way to make a class unhashable is to set <code>__hash__ = None</code>.
</p>
<sample src="IncorrectRaiseInSpecialMethod3.py" />
<sample src="examples/IncorrectRaiseInSpecialMethod3.py" />
</example>
<references>
<li>Python Language Reference: <a href="http://docs.python.org/dev/reference/datamodel.html#special-method-names">Special Method Names</a>.</li>
<li>Python Library Reference: <a href="https://docs.python.org/2/library/exceptions.html">Exceptions</a>.</li>
<li>Python Library Reference: <a href="https://docs.python.org/3/library/exceptions.html">Exceptions</a>.</li>