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Re: What does this "See help(type(self)) for accurate signature." actually mean?

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On 2026-03-16, Stefan Ram <ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
> Jon Ribbens <jon+usenet@unequivocal.eu> wrote or quoted:
>>                         I don't know why it says "type(self)",
>>because help(foo) where 'foo' is an instance of a class 'xyz'
>>seems to display the same as help(xyz) anyway.
>
>|Python 3.14
>
>|>>> import types
>
>|>>> self = types.SimpleNamespace()
>
>|>>> self.__doc__ = "my custom doc"
>
>|>>> help(self)
>|Help on SimpleNamespace:
>|namespace(__doc__='my custom doc')
>|    my custom doc
>
>|>>> help(type(self))
>|Help on class SimpleNamespace in module types:
>|class SimpleNamespace(builtins.object)
>| |  SimpleNamespace(mapping_or_iterable=(), /, **kwargs)
>| |  A simple attribute-based namespace.
>| |  Methods defined here:
> . . .

Ok, but does anyone ever set __doc__ on instances?
That's a pretty weird thing to do.

>>                                 the class itself doesn't have
>>a docstring either. So there is nothing to display no matter what
>>you type.
>
>   Even without docstrings, info about names, parameters etc. is shown.

Yes, everyone can see that from what OP has already posted here.

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What does this "See help(type(self)) for accurate signature." actually mean? Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> - 2026-03-15 09:05 +0000
  Re: What does this "See help(type(self)) for accurate signature." actually mean? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-03-15 21:21 +0000
    Re: What does this "See help(type(self)) for accurate signature." actually mean? Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> - 2026-03-16 08:53 +0000
      Re: What does this "See help(type(self)) for accurate signature." actually mean? Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-03-16 09:15 +0000
  Re: What does this "See help(type(self)) for accurate signature." actually mean? Jon Ribbens <jon+usenet@unequivocal.eu> - 2026-03-16 10:17 +0000
    Re: What does this "See help(type(self)) for accurate signature." actually mean? ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) - 2026-03-16 15:25 +0000
      Re: What does this "See help(type(self)) for accurate signature." actually mean? Jon Ribbens <jon+usenet@unequivocal.eu> - 2026-03-16 17:01 +0000

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