[Python-Dev] Issue10403 - using 'attributes' instead of members in documentation (original) (raw)

Steven D'Aprano steve at pearwood.info
Tue Jun 28 02:14:57 CEST 2011

R. David Murray wrote:

So, the correct generic term for something that can be accessed via attribute notation is attribute. The more specific term for an attribute that is a method is method. We don't currently have a more specific collective term for attributes that aren't methods. That is the problem.

"Attribute" also encompasses both instance attributes and class attributes. Rather than having two different words, we simply qualify the word when we need to distinguish them.

Likewise, in the cases where it is important to distinguish methods from other attributes, we should qualify the word: data attribute vs method attribute.

(I'm not suggesting that we should routinely refer to "method attribute" rather than simply method, but only when we wish to emphasize that methods are a kind of attribute and not a completely different kind of thing.)

-- Steven

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