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Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2011 01:13:06 -0600
Subject: Re: how to inherit docstrings?
From: Eric Snow <ericsnowcurrently@gmail.com>
To: Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au>
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On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 12:37 AM, Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> wr=
ote:
> Eric Snow <ericsnowcurrently@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> p.s. Am I missing something or can you really not change the docstring
>> of a class? I was thinking about the idea of inheriting class
>> docstrings too.
>
> The docstring of an object (whether function or class or module) is the
> object's =91__doc__=92 attribute. Access that attribute to get the
> docstring; re-bind that attribute to set a different docstring.
>

Sorry, I should have been more clear:

>>> class X:
...     "some doc"
...
>>> X.__doc__
'some doc'
>>> X.__doc__ =3D "another doc"
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
AttributeError: attribute '__doc__' of 'type' objects is not writable

That is on 3.3.

> So, it's even possible to do what you ask without decorators at all:
>
> =A0 =A0class Foo(object):
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0def frob(self):
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0""" Frobnicate thyself. """
>
> =A0 =A0class Bar(Foo):
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0def frob(self):
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0pass
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0frob.__doc__ =3D Foo.frob.__doc__
>
> Not very elegant, and involving rather too much repetition; but not
> difficult.
>

Yeah, definitely you can do it directly for each case.  However, the
inelegance, repetition, and immodularity are exactly why I am pursuing
a solution.  :)  (I included a link in the original message to
examples of how you can already do it with metaclasses and class
decorators too.)

I'm just looking for a way to do it with decorators in the class body
without using metaclasses or class decorators.

Thanks

-eric

> --
> =A0\ =A0 =A0 =93We are no more free to believe whatever we want about God=
 than |
> =A0`\ =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 we are free to adopt unjustified beliefs about scie=
nce or |
> _o__) =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0history [=85].=94 =97Sam Harris, _The En=
d of Faith_, 2004 |
> Ben Finney
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>