__getslice__ still called

[stefanseefeld]

BPO	2041
Nosy	@stefanseefeld, @mdickinson

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2008-02-07.19:09:56.035>
created_at = <Date 2008-02-07.18:19:20.536>
labels = ['interpreter-core', 'type-bug', 'invalid']
title = '__getslice__ still called'
updated_at = <Date 2008-02-07.19:09:56.034>
user = 'https://github.com/stefanseefeld'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2008-02-07.19:09:56.034>
actor = 'mark.dickinson'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2008-02-07.19:09:56.035>
closer = 'mark.dickinson'
components = ['Interpreter Core']
creation = <Date 2008-02-07.18:19:20.536>
creator = 'stefan'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 2041
keywords = []
message_count = 4.0
messages = ['62162', '62166', '62168', '62170']
nosy_count = 2.0
nosy_names = ['stefan', 'mark.dickinson']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'not a bug'
stage = None
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue2041'
versions = ['Python 2.5', 'Python 2.3']

[stefanseefeld]

The python documentation states that since python 2.0 __getslice__ is
obsoleted by __getitem__. However, testing with python 2.3 as well as
2.5, I find the following surprising behavior:

class Tuple(tuple):

  def __getitem__(self, i): print '__getitem__', i
  def __getslice__(self, i): print '__getslice__', i

t = Tuple()
t[0] # __getitem__ called with type(i) == int
t[0:2] # __getslice__ called with type(i) == slice
t[0:2:1] # __getitem__ called with type(i) == slice

[mdickinson]

I think the docs do a good job of explaining this; in particular, they
say,
in http://docs.python.org/dev/reference/datamodel.html#special-method-
names:

"However, built-in types in CPython currently still implement
__getslice__()."

and explain that __getslice__ is used only to implement the form a[i:j],
and
falls back to __getitem__ if __getslice__ is not implemented.

Getting rid of __getslice__ for builtin types in Python 2.x is probably
one
of those things that would break backwards compatibility. And leaving
it in
is pretty harmless. To avoid surprises, don't implement __getslice__ in
your
own classes. But note that __getslice__ and friends are gone in Python
3.0.

I'd recommend closing this as invalid, but I'll wait for a second
opinion.

[stefanseefeld]

Mark,

thanks for the quick follow-up.
OK, i now understand the situation better. The documentation I had read
originally didn't talk about special-casing built-in objects. (And since
I want to extend a tuple, I do have to override __getslice__ since I
want to make sure the returned object still has the derived type.)

Yes, I believe this issue can be closed as invalid.
(Though I believe the docs could be a bit more clear about this.)

Thanks,
Stefan

--

   ...ich hab' noch einen Koffer in Berlin...

[mdickinson]

Well, documentation patches are always welcome, I believe :)

If you can point to a particular place in the documentation and suggest
alternative (or extra) wording that might help, post it here and I'll deal
with it.