[Python-Dev] Small suggestion re help(Exception) (original) (raw)

Michael Foord fuzzyman at voidspace.org.uk
Wed Apr 21 18:22:36 CEST 2010

On 21/04/2010 18:17, Rob Cliffe wrote:

help() on an Exception class lists the method resolution order (effectively the inheritance hierarchy). E.g. help(ArithmeticError) displays inter alia: Method resolution order: ArithmeticError StandardError Exception BaseException builtin.object Would it be possible for it also display the Python built-in SUBclasses of the class? E.g. in the same example something like: Built-in subclasses: FloatingPointError OverflowError ZeroDivisionError This may seem pointless to grizzled old Python veterans who (maybe) know the inheritance hierarchy backwards, but for those of us with less experience I think it would be helpful, e.g. (1) It would help to track down an Exception whose name you have forgotten. (2) It would sometimes be illuminating, e.g. LookupError might be a bit obscure at first, until you see that it is the superclass of the familiar IndexError and KeyError. Sorry, I'm not sure if I should send this sort of thing to Python-Ideas or Python-Dev, so please let me know gently which one I should (not) have sent it to.

This sounds like a pretty straightforward feature request that you could put on the tracker (preferably with patch and tests of course), but is on-topic for this mailing list.

I rarely use help(...) myself (I probably should), but it sounds like a useful enhancement.

Michael

Best wishes Rob Cliffe

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