Function Annotations: PEP-3107
I ran across a snippet of code demonstrating Python3's function annotations. The concept is simple but I can't think of why these were implemented in Python3 or any good uses for them. Perhaps SO can enlighten me?
How it works:
def foo(a: 'x', b: 5 + 6, c: list) -> max(2, 9):
... function body ...
Everything following the colon after an argument is an 'annotation', and the information following the ->
is an annotation for the function's return value.
foo.func_annotations would return a dictionary:
{'a': 'x',
'b': 11,
'c': list,
'return': 9}
What's the significance of having this available?
Function annotations are what you make of them.
They can be used for documentation:
def kinetic_energy(mass: 'in kilograms', velocity: 'in meters per second'):
...
They can be used for pre-condition checking:
def validate(func, locals):
for var, test in func.__annotations__.items():
value = locals[var]
msg = 'Var: {0}\tValue: {1}\tTest: {2.__name__}'.format(var, value, test)
assert test(value), msg
def is_int(x):
return isinstance(x, int)
def between(lo, hi):
def _between(x):
return lo <= x <= hi
return _between
def f(x: between(3, 10), y: is_int):
validate(f, locals())
print(x, y)
>>> f(0, 31.1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
AssertionError: Var: y Value: 31.1 Test: is_int
Also see http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0362/ for a way to implement type checking.