Infer type from default option

strax/config.py

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import builtins
 import typing as ty
-
+import numbers
 from immutabledict import immutabledict
 
 import strax
@@ -110,15 +110,25 @@ def __init__(self,
         #                   f" which will soon stop working!",
         #                   DeprecationWarning)
 
-        type = builtins.type
         if sum([self.default is not OMITTED,
                 self.default_factory is not OMITTED,
                 self.default_by_run is not OMITTED]) > 1:
             raise RuntimeError(f"Tried to specify more than one default "
                                f"for option {self.name}.")
 
         if type is OMITTED and default is not OMITTED:
-            self.type = type(default)
+            for ntype in [numbers.Integral, numbers.Number]:
+                # first check if its a number otherwise numpy numbers
+                # will fail type checking when checked against int and float.
+                # numbers.Integral, numbers.Number are safe to use
+                # since numpy registers them as super-classes.
+                # left as a loop since we may want to add other exceptions as
+                # they are discovered.
+                if isinstance(default, ntype):
+                    self.type = ntype
+                    break
+            else:
+                self.type = builtins.type(default)
 
     def get_default(self, run_id, run_defaults: dict = None):
         """Return default value for the option"""

strax/context.py

@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@
     strax.Option(name='free_options', default=tuple(),
                  help='Do not warn if any of these options are passed, '
                       'even when no registered plugin takes them.'),
-    strax.Option(name='apply_data_function', default=tuple(),
+    strax.Option(name='apply_data_function', default=tuple(), type=(tuple,list,ty.Callable),
                  help='Apply a function to the data prior to returning the'
                       'data. The function should take three positional arguments: '
                       'func(<data>, <run_id>, <targets>).'),