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Guido van Rossum46f3e001992-08-14 09:11:01 +00001\chapter{Data model}
2
3\section{Objects, values and types}
4
5{\em Objects} are Python's abstraction for data. All data in a Python
6program is represented by objects or by relations between objects.
7(In a sense, and in conformance to Von Neumann's model of a
8``stored program computer'', code is also represented by objects.)
9\index{object}
10\index{data}
11
12Every object has an identity, a type and a value. An object's {\em
13identity} never changes once it has been created; you may think of it
14as the object's address in memory. An object's {\em type} is also
15unchangeable. It determines the operations that an object supports
16(e.g. ``does it have a length?'') and also defines the possible
17values for objects of that type. The {\em value} of some objects can
18change. Objects whose value can change are said to be {\em mutable};
19objects whose value is unchangeable once they are created are called
20{\em immutable}. The type determines an object's (im)mutability.
21\index{identity of an object}
22\index{value of an object}
23\index{type of an object}
24\index{mutable object}
25\index{immutable object}
26
27Objects are never explicitly destroyed; however, when they become
28unreachable they may be garbage-collected. An implementation is
29allowed to delay garbage collection or omit it altogether --- it is a
30matter of implementation quality how garbage collection is
31implemented, as long as no objects are collected that are still
32reachable. (Implementation note: the current implementation uses a
33reference-counting scheme which collects most objects as soon as they
34become unreachable, but never collects garbage containing circular
35references.)
36\index{garbage collection}
37\index{reference counting}
38\index{unreachable object}
39
40Note that the use of the implementation's tracing or debugging
41facilities may keep objects alive that would normally be collectable.
42
43Some objects contain references to ``external'' resources such as open
44files or windows. It is understood that these resources are freed
45when the object is garbage-collected, but since garbage collection is
46not guaranteed to happen, such objects also provide an explicit way to
47release the external resource, usually a \verb\close\ method.
48Programs are strongly recommended to always explicitly close such
49objects.
50
51Some objects contain references to other objects; these are called
52{\em containers}. Examples of containers are tuples, lists and
53dictionaries. The references are part of a container's value. In
54most cases, when we talk about the value of a container, we imply the
55values, not the identities of the contained objects; however, when we
56talk about the (im)mutability of a container, only the identities of
57the immediately contained objects are implied. (So, if an immutable
58container contains a reference to a mutable object, its value changes
59if that mutable object is changed.)
60\index{container}
61
62Types affect almost all aspects of objects' lives. Even the meaning
63of object identity is affected in some sense: for immutable types,
64operations that compute new values may actually return a reference to
65any existing object with the same type and value, while for mutable
66objects this is not allowed. E.g. after
67
68\begin{verbatim}
69a = 1; b = 1; c = []; d = []
70\end{verbatim}
71
72\verb\a\ and \verb\b\ may or may not refer to the same object with the
73value one, depending on the implementation, but \verb\c\ and \verb\d\
74are guaranteed to refer to two different, unique, newly created empty
75lists.
76
77\section{The standard type hierarchy} \label{types}
78
79Below is a list of the types that are built into Python. Extension
80modules written in C can define additional types. Future versions of
81Python may add types to the type hierarchy (e.g. rational or complex
82numbers, efficiently stored arrays of integers, etc.).
83\index{type}
84\indexii{data}{type}
85\indexii{type}{hierarchy}
86\indexii{extension}{module}
87\index{C}
88
89Some of the type descriptions below contain a paragraph listing
90`special attributes'. These are attributes that provide access to the
91implementation and are not intended for general use. Their definition
92may change in the future. There are also some `generic' special
93attributes, not listed with the individual objects: \verb\__methods__\
94is a list of the method names of a built-in object, if it has any;
95\verb\__members__\ is a list of the data attribute names of a built-in
96object, if it has any.
97\index{attribute}
98\indexii{special}{attribute}
99\indexiii{generic}{special}{attribute}
100\ttindex{__methods__}
101\ttindex{__members__}
102
103\begin{description}
104
105\item[None]
106This type has a single value. There is a single object with this value.
107This object is accessed through the built-in name \verb\None\.
108It is returned from functions that don't explicitly return an object.
109\ttindex{None}
110\obindex{None@{\tt None}}
111
112\item[Numbers]
113These are created by numeric literals and returned as results by
114arithmetic operators and arithmetic built-in functions. Numeric
115objects are immutable; once created their value never changes. Python
116numbers are of course strongly related to mathematical numbers, but
117subject to the limitations of numerical representation in computers.
118\obindex{number}
119\obindex{numeric}
120
121Python distinguishes between integers and floating point numbers:
122
123\begin{description}
124\item[Integers]
125These represent elements from the mathematical set of whole numbers.
126\obindex{integer}
127
128There are two types of integers:
129
130\begin{description}
131
132\item[Plain integers]
133These represent numbers in the range $-2^{31}$ through $2^{31}-1$.
134(The range may be larger on machines with a larger natural word
135size, but not smaller.)
136When the result of an operation falls outside this range, the
137exception \verb\OverflowError\ is raised.
138For the purpose of shift and mask operations, integers are assumed to
139have a binary, 2's complement notation using 32 or more bits, and
140hiding no bits from the user (i.e., all $2^{32}$ different bit
141patterns correspond to different values).
142\obindex{plain integer}
143
144\item[Long integers]
145These represent numbers in an unlimited range, subject to available
146(virtual) memory only. For the purpose of shift and mask operations,
147a binary representation is assumed, and negative numbers are
148represented in a variant of 2's complement which gives the illusion of
149an infinite string of sign bits extending to the left.
150\obindex{long integer}
151
152\end{description} % Integers
153
154The rules for integer representation are intended to give the most
155meaningful interpretation of shift and mask operations involving
156negative integers and the least surprises when switching between the
157plain and long integer domains. For any operation except left shift,
158if it yields a result in the plain integer domain without causing
159overflow, it will yield the same result in the long integer domain or
160when using mixed operands.
161\indexii{integer}{representation}
162
163\item[Floating point numbers]
164These represent machine-level double precision floating point numbers.
165You are at the mercy of the underlying machine architecture and
166C implementation for the accepted range and handling of overflow.
167\obindex{floating point}
168\indexii{floating point}{number}
169\index{C}
170
171\end{description} % Numbers
172
173\item[Sequences]
174These represent finite ordered sets indexed by natural numbers.
175The built-in function \verb\len()\ returns the number of elements
176of a sequence. When this number is $n$, the index set contains
177the numbers $0, 1, \ldots, n-1$. Element \verb\i\ of sequence
178\verb\a\ is selected by \verb\a[i]\.
179\obindex{seqence}
180\bifuncindex{len}
181\index{index operation}
182\index{item selection}
183\index{subscription}
184
185Sequences also support slicing: \verb\a[i:j]\ selects all elements
186with index $k$ such that $i <= k < j$. When used as an expression,
187a slice is a sequence of the same type --- this implies that the
188index set is renumbered so that it starts at 0 again.
189\index{slicing}
190
191Sequences are distinguished according to their mutability:
192
193\begin{description}
194%
195\item[Immutable sequences]
196An object of an immutable sequence type cannot change once it is
197created. (If the object contains references to other objects,
198these other objects may be mutable and may be changed; however
199the collection of objects directly referenced by an immutable object
200cannot change.)
201\obindex{immutable sequence}
202\obindex{immutable}
203
204The following types are immutable sequences:
205
206\begin{description}
207
208\item[Strings]
209The elements of a string are characters. There is no separate
210character type; a character is represented by a string of one element.
211Characters represent (at least) 8-bit bytes. The built-in
212functions \verb\chr()\ and \verb\ord()\ convert between characters
213and nonnegative integers representing the byte values.
214Bytes with the values 0-127 represent the corresponding ASCII values.
215The string data type is also used to represent arrays of bytes, e.g.
216to hold data read from a file.
217\obindex{string}
218\index{character}
219\index{byte}
220\index{ASCII}
221\bifuncindex{chr}
222\bifuncindex{ord}
223
224(On systems whose native character set is not ASCII, strings may use
225EBCDIC in their internal representation, provided the functions
226\verb\chr()\ and \verb\ord()\ implement a mapping between ASCII and
227EBCDIC, and string comparison preserves the ASCII order.
228Or perhaps someone can propose a better rule?)
229\index{ASCII}
230\index{EBCDIC}
231\index{character set}
232\indexii{string}{comparison}
233\bifuncindex{chr}
234\bifuncindex{ord}
235
236\item[Tuples]
237The elements of a tuple are arbitrary Python objects.
238Tuples of two or more elements are formed by comma-separated lists
239of expressions. A tuple of one element (a `singleton') can be formed
240by affixing a comma to an expression (an expression by itself does
241not create a tuple, since parentheses must be usable for grouping of
242expressions). An empty tuple can be formed by enclosing `nothing' in
243parentheses.
244\obindex{tuple}
245\indexii{singleton}{tuple}
246\indexii{empty}{tuple}
247
248\end{description} % Immutable sequences
249
250\item[Mutable sequences]
251Mutable sequences can be changed after they are created. The
252subscription and slicing notations can be used as the target of
253assignment and \verb\del\ (delete) statements.
254\obindex{mutable sequece}
255\obindex{mutable}
256\indexii{assignment}{statement}
257\index{delete}
258\stindex{del}
259\index{subscription}
260\index{slicing}
261
262There is currently a single mutable sequence type:
263
264\begin{description}
265
266\item[Lists]
267The elements of a list are arbitrary Python objects. Lists are formed
268by placing a comma-separated list of expressions in square brackets.
269(Note that there are no special cases needed to form lists of length 0
270or 1.)
271\obindex{list}
272
273\end{description} % Mutable sequences
274
275\end{description} % Sequences
276
277\item[Mapping types]
278These represent finite sets of objects indexed by arbitrary index sets.
279The subscript notation \verb\a[k]\ selects the element indexed
280by \verb\k\ from the mapping \verb\a\; this can be used in
281expressions and as the target of assignments or \verb\del\ statements.
282The built-in function \verb\len()\ returns the number of elements
283in a mapping.
284\bifuncindex{len}
285\index{subscription}
286\obindex{mapping}
287
288There is currently a single mapping type:
289
290\begin{description}
291
292\item[Dictionaries]
Guido van Rossumb2c65561993-05-12 08:53:36 +0000293These represent finite sets of objects indexed by almost arbitrary
294values. The only types of values not acceptable as keys are values
295containing lists or dictionaries or other mutable types that are
296compared by value rather than by object identity --- the reason being
297that the implementation requires that a key's hash value be constant.
298Numeric types used for keys obey the normal rules for numeric
299comparison: if two numbers compare equal (e.g. 1 and 1.0) then they
300can be used interchangeably to index the same dictionary entry.
301
Guido van Rossum46f3e001992-08-14 09:11:01 +0000302Dictionaries are mutable; they are created by the \verb\{...}\
Guido van Rossumb2c65561993-05-12 08:53:36 +0000303notation (see section \ref{dict}).
Guido van Rossum46f3e001992-08-14 09:11:01 +0000304\obindex{dictionary}
305\obindex{mutable}
306
307\end{description} % Mapping types
308
309\item[Callable types]
310These are the types to which the function call (invocation) operation,
311written as \verb\function(argument, argument, ...)\, can be applied:
312\indexii{function}{call}
313\index{invocation}
314\indexii{function}{argument}
315\obindex{callable}
316
317\begin{description}
318
319\item[User-defined functions]
320A user-defined function object is created by a function definition
321(see section \ref{function}). It should be called with an argument
322list containing the same number of items as the function's formal
323parameter list.
324\indexii{user-defined}{function}
325\obindex{function}
326\obindex{user-defined function}
327
328Special read-only attributes: \verb\func_code\ is the code object
329representing the compiled function body, and \verb\func_globals\ is (a
330reference to) the dictionary that holds the function's global
331variables --- it implements the global name space of the module in
332which the function was defined.
333\ttindex{func_code}
334\ttindex{func_globals}
335\indexii{global}{name space}
336
337\item[User-defined methods]
338A user-defined method (a.k.a. {\em object closure}) is a pair of a
339class instance object and a user-defined function. It should be
340called with an argument list containing one item less than the number
341of items in the function's formal parameter list. When called, the
342class instance becomes the first argument, and the call arguments are
343shifted one to the right.
344\obindex{method}
345\obindex{user-defined method}
346\indexii{user-defined}{method}
347\index{object closure}
348
349Special read-only attributes: \verb\im_self\ is the class instance
350object, \verb\im_func\ is the function object.
351\ttindex{im_func}
352\ttindex{im_self}
353
354\item[Built-in functions]
355A built-in function object is a wrapper around a C function. Examples
356of built-in functions are \verb\len\ and \verb\math.sin\. There
357are no special attributes. The number and type of the arguments are
358determined by the C function.
359\obindex{built-in function}
360\obindex{function}
361\index{C}
362
363\item[Built-in methods]
364This is really a different disguise of a built-in function, this time
365containing an object passed to the C function as an implicit extra
366argument. An example of a built-in method is \verb\list.append\ if
367\verb\list\ is a list object.
368\obindex{built-in method}
369\obindex{method}
370\indexii{built-in}{method}
371
372\item[Classes]
373Class objects are described below. When a class object is called as a
374parameterless function, a new class instance (also described below) is
375created and returned. The class's initialization function is not
376called --- this is the responsibility of the caller. It is illegal to
377call a class object with one or more arguments.
378\obindex{class}
379\obindex{class instance}
380\obindex{instance}
381\indexii{class object}{call}
382
383\end{description}
384
385\item[Modules]
386Modules are imported by the \verb\import\ statement (see section
387\ref{import}). A module object is a container for a module's name
388space, which is a dictionary (the same dictionary as referenced by the
389\verb\func_globals\ attribute of functions defined in the module).
390Module attribute references are translated to lookups in this
391dictionary. A module object does not contain the code object used to
392initialize the module (since it isn't needed once the initialization
393is done).
394\stindex{import}
395\obindex{module}
396
397Attribute assignment update the module's name space dictionary.
398
399Special read-only attributes: \verb\__dict__\ yields the module's name
400space as a dictionary object; \verb\__name__\ yields the module's name
401as a string object.
402\ttindex{__dict__}
403\ttindex{__name__}
404\indexii{module}{name space}
405
406\item[Classes]
407Class objects are created by class definitions (see section
408\ref{class}). A class is a container for a dictionary containing the
409class's name space. Class attribute references are translated to
410lookups in this dictionary. When an attribute name is not found
411there, the attribute search continues in the base classes. The search
412is depth-first, left-to-right in the order of their occurrence in the
413base class list.
414\obindex{class}
415\obindex{class instance}
416\obindex{instance}
417\indexii{class object}{call}
418\index{container}
Guido van Rossumb2c65561993-05-12 08:53:36 +0000419\obindex{dictionary}
Guido van Rossum46f3e001992-08-14 09:11:01 +0000420\indexii{class}{attribute}
421
422Class attribute assignments update the class's dictionary, never the
423dictionary of a base class.
424\indexiii{class}{attribute}{assignment}
425
426A class can be called as a parameterless function to yield a class
427instance (see above).
428\indexii{class object}{call}
429
430Special read-only attributes: \verb\__dict__\ yields the dictionary
431containing the class's name space; \verb\__bases__\ yields a tuple
432(possibly empty or a singleton) containing the base classes, in the
433order of their occurrence in the base class list.
434\ttindex{__dict__}
435\ttindex{__bases__}
436
437\item[Class instances]
438A class instance is created by calling a class object as a
439parameterless function. A class instance has a dictionary in which
440attribute references are searched. When an attribute is not found
441there, and the instance's class has an attribute by that name, and
442that class attribute is a user-defined function (and in no other
443cases), the instance attribute reference yields a user-defined method
444object (see above) constructed from the instance and the function.
445\obindex{class instance}
446\obindex{instance}
447\indexii{class}{instance}
448\indexii{class instance}{attribute}
449
450Attribute assignments update the instance's dictionary.
451\indexiii{class instance}{attribute}{assignment}
452
453Class instances can pretend to be numbers, sequences, or mappings if
454they have methods with certain special names. These are described in
455section \ref{specialnames}.
456\obindex{number}
457\obindex{sequence}
458\obindex{mapping}
459
460Special read-only attributes: \verb\__dict__\ yields the attribute
461dictionary; \verb\__class__\ yields the instance's class.
462\ttindex{__dict__}
463\ttindex{__class__}
464
465\item[Files]
466A file object represents an open file. (It is a wrapper around a C
467{\tt stdio} file pointer.) File objects are created by the
468\verb\open()\ built-in function, and also by \verb\posix.popen()\ and
469the \verb\makefile\ method of socket objects. \verb\sys.stdin\,
470\verb\sys.stdout\ and \verb\sys.stderr\ are file objects corresponding
471the the interpreter's standard input, output and error streams.
472See the Python Library Reference for methods of file objects and other
473details.
474\obindex{file}
475\index{C}
476\index{stdio}
477\bifuncindex{open}
478\bifuncindex{popen}
479\bifuncindex{makefile}
480\ttindex{stdin}
481\ttindex{stdout}
482\ttindex{stderr}
483\ttindex{sys.stdin}
484\ttindex{sys.stdout}
485\ttindex{sys.stderr}
486
487\item[Internal types]
488A few types used internally by the interpreter are exposed to the user.
489Their definition may change with future versions of the interpreter,
490but they are mentioned here for completeness.
491\index{internal type}
492
493\begin{description}
494
495\item[Code objects]
496Code objects represent executable code. The difference between a code
497object and a function object is that the function object contains an
498explicit reference to the function's context (the module in which it
499was defined) which a code object contains no context. There is no way
500to execute a bare code object.
501\obindex{code}
502
503Special read-only attributes: \verb\co_code\ is a string representing
504the sequence of instructions; \verb\co_consts\ is a list of literals
505used by the code; \verb\co_names\ is a list of names (strings) used by
506the code; \verb\co_filename\ is the filename from which the code was
507compiled. (To find out the line numbers, you would have to decode the
508instructions; the standard library module \verb\dis\ contains an
509example of how to do this.)
510\ttindex{co_code}
511\ttindex{co_consts}
512\ttindex{co_names}
513\ttindex{co_filename}
514
515\item[Frame objects]
516Frame objects represent execution frames. They may occur in traceback
517objects (see below).
518\obindex{frame}
519
520Special read-only attributes: \verb\f_back\ is to the previous
521stack frame (towards the caller), or \verb\None\ if this is the bottom
522stack frame; \verb\f_code\ is the code object being executed in this
523frame; \verb\f_globals\ is the dictionary used to look up global
524variables; \verb\f_locals\ is used for local variables;
525\verb\f_lineno\ gives the line number and \verb\f_lasti\ gives the
526precise instruction (this is an index into the instruction string of
527the code object).
528\ttindex{f_back}
529\ttindex{f_code}
530\ttindex{f_globals}
531\ttindex{f_locals}
532\ttindex{f_lineno}
533\ttindex{f_lasti}
534
535\item[Traceback objects]
536Traceback objects represent a stack trace of an exception. A
537traceback object is created when an exception occurs. When the search
538for an exception handler unwinds the execution stack, at each unwound
539level a traceback object is inserted in front of the current
540traceback. When an exception handler is entered, the stack trace is
541made available to the program as \verb\sys.exc_traceback\. When the
542program contains no suitable handler, the stack trace is written
543(nicely formatted) to the standard error stream; if the interpreter is
544interactive, it is also made available to the user as
545\verb\sys.last_traceback\.
546\obindex{traceback}
547\indexii{stack}{trace}
548\indexii{exception}{handler}
549\indexii{execution}{stack}
550\ttindex{exc_traceback}
551\ttindex{last_traceback}
552\ttindex{sys.exc_traceback}
553\ttindex{sys.last_traceback}
554
555Special read-only attributes: \verb\tb_next\ is the next level in the
556stack trace (towards the frame where the exception occurred), or
557\verb\None\ if there is no next level; \verb\tb_frame\ points to the
558execution frame of the current level; \verb\tb_lineno\ gives the line
559number where the exception occurred; \verb\tb_lasti\ indicates the
560precise instruction. The line number and last instruction in the
561traceback may differ from the line number of its frame object if the
562exception occurred in a \verb\try\ statement with no matching
563\verb\except\ clause or with a \verb\finally\ clause.
564\ttindex{tb_next}
565\ttindex{tb_frame}
566\ttindex{tb_lineno}
567\ttindex{tb_lasti}
568\stindex{try}
569
570\end{description} % Internal types
571
572\end{description} % Types
573
574
575\section{Special method names} \label{specialnames}
576
577A class can implement certain operations that are invoked by special
578syntax (such as subscription or arithmetic operations) by defining
579methods with special names. For instance, if a class defines a
580method named \verb\__getitem__\, and \verb\x\ is an instance of this
581class, then \verb\x[i]\ is equivalent to \verb\x.__getitem__(i)\.
582(The reverse is not true --- if \verb\x\ is a list object,
583\verb\x.__getitem__(i)\ is not equivalent to \verb\x[i]\.)
584
585Except for \verb\__repr__\ and \verb\__cmp__\, attempts to execute an
586operation raise an exception when no appropriate method is defined.
587For \verb\__repr__\ and \verb\__cmp__\, the traditional
588interpretations are used in this case.
589
590
591\subsection{Special methods for any type}
592
593\begin{description}
594
595\item[\tt __repr__(self)]
596Called by the \verb\print\ statement and conversions (reverse quotes) to
597compute the string representation of an object.
598
Guido van Rossumb2c65561993-05-12 08:53:36 +0000599\item[\tt __cmp__(self, other)]
Guido van Rossum46f3e001992-08-14 09:11:01 +0000600Called by all comparison operations. Should return -1 if
601\verb\self < other\, 0 if \verb\self == other\, +1 if
Guido van Rossumb2c65561993-05-12 08:53:36 +0000602\verb\self > other\. If no \code{__cmp__} operation is defined, class
603instances are compared by object identity (``address'').
604(Implementation note: due to limitations in the interpreter,
605exceptions raised by comparisons are ignored, and the objects will be
606considered equal in this case.)
607
608\item[\tt __hash__(self)]
609Called by dictionary operations and by the built-in function
610\code{hash()}. Should return a 32-bit integer usable as a hash value
611for dictionary operations. The only required property is that objects
612which compare equal have the same hash value; it is advised to somehow
613mix together (e.g. using exclusing or) the hash values for the
614components of the object that also play a part in comparison of
615objects. If a class does not define a \code{__cmp__} method it should
616not define a \code{__hash__} operation either; if it defines
617\code{__cmp__} but not \code{__hash__} its instances will not be
618usable as dictionary keys. If a class defines mutable objects and
619implements a \code{__cmp__} method it should not implement
620\code{__hash__}, since the dictionary implementation assumes that a
621key's hash value is a constant.
622\obindex{dictionary}
Guido van Rossum46f3e001992-08-14 09:11:01 +0000623
624\end{description}
625
626
627\subsection{Special methods for sequence and mapping types}
628
629\begin{description}
630
631\item[\tt __len__(self)]
632Called to implement the built-in function \verb\len()\. Should return
633the length of the object, an integer \verb\>=\ 0. Also, an object
634whose \verb\__len__()\ method returns 0 is considered to be false in a
635Boolean context.
636
637\item[\tt __getitem__(self, key)]
638Called to implement evaluation of \verb\self[key]\. Note that the
639special interpretation of negative keys (if the class wishes to
640emulate a sequence type) is up to the \verb\__getitem__\ method.
641
642\item[\tt __setitem__(self, key, value)]
643Called to implement assignment to \verb\self[key]\. Same note as for
644\verb\__getitem__\.
645
646\item[\tt __delitem__(self, key)]
647Called to implement deletion of \verb\self[key]\. Same note as for
648\verb\__getitem__\.
649
650\end{description}
651
652
653\subsection{Special methods for sequence types}
654
655\begin{description}
656
657\item[\tt __getslice__(self, i, j)]
658Called to implement evaluation of \verb\self[i:j]\. Note that missing
659\verb\i\ or \verb\j\ are replaced by 0 or \verb\len(self)\,
660respectively, and \verb\len(self)\ has been added (once) to originally
661negative \verb\i\ or \verb\j\ by the time this function is called
662(unlike for \verb\__getitem__\).
663
664\item[\tt __setslice__(self, i, j, sequence)]
665Called to implement assignment to \verb\self[i:j]\. Same notes as for
666\verb\__getslice__\.
667
668\item[\tt __delslice__(self, i, j)]
669Called to implement deletion of \verb\self[i:j]\. Same notes as for
670\verb\__getslice__\.
671
672\end{description}
673
674
675\subsection{Special methods for numeric types}
676
677\begin{description}
678
679\item[\tt __add__(self, other)]\itemjoin
680\item[\tt __sub__(self, other)]\itemjoin
681\item[\tt __mul__(self, other)]\itemjoin
682\item[\tt __div__(self, other)]\itemjoin
683\item[\tt __mod__(self, other)]\itemjoin
684\item[\tt __divmod__(self, other)]\itemjoin
685\item[\tt __pow__(self, other)]\itemjoin
686\item[\tt __lshift__(self, other)]\itemjoin
687\item[\tt __rshift__(self, other)]\itemjoin
688\item[\tt __and__(self, other)]\itemjoin
689\item[\tt __xor__(self, other)]\itemjoin
690\item[\tt __or__(self, other)]\itembreak
691Called to implement the binary arithmetic operations (\verb\+\,
692\verb\-\, \verb\*\, \verb\/\, \verb\%\, \verb\divmod()\, \verb\pow()\,
693\verb\<<\, \verb\>>\, \verb\&\, \verb\^\, \verb\|\).
694
695\item[\tt __neg__(self)]\itemjoin
696\item[\tt __pos__(self)]\itemjoin
697\item[\tt __abs__(self)]\itemjoin
698\item[\tt __invert__(self)]\itembreak
699Called to implement the unary arithmetic operations (\verb\-\, \verb\+\,
700\verb\abs()\ and \verb\~\).
701
702\item[\tt __nonzero__(self)]
703Called to implement boolean testing; should return 0 or 1. An
704alternative name for this method is \verb\__len__\.
705
706\item[\tt __coerce__(self, other)]
707Called to implement ``mixed-mode'' numeric arithmetic. Should either
708return a tuple containing self and other converted to a common numeric
709type, or None if no way of conversion is known. When the common type
710would be the type of other, it is sufficient to return None, since the
711interpreter will also ask the other object to attempt a coercion (but
712sometimes, if the implementation of the other type cannot be changed,
713it is useful to do the conversion to the other type here).
714
715Note that this method is not called to coerce the arguments to \verb\+\
716and \verb\*\, because these are also used to implement sequence
717concatenation and repetition, respectively. Also note that, for the
718same reason, in \verb\n*x\, where \verb\n\ is a built-in number and
719\verb\x\ is an instance, a call to \verb\x.__mul__(n)\ is made.%
720\footnote{The interpreter should really distinguish between
721user-defined classes implementing sequences, mappings or numbers, but
722currently it doesn't --- hence this strange exception.}
723
724\item[\tt __int__(self)]\itemjoin
725\item[\tt __long__(self)]\itemjoin
726\item[\tt __float__(self)]\itembreak
727Called to implement the built-in functions \verb\int()\, \verb\long()\
728and \verb\float()\. Should return a value of the appropriate type.
729
Guido van Rossum66122d21992-09-20 21:43:47 +0000730\item[\tt __oct__(self)]\itemjoin
731\item[\tt __hex__(self)]\itembreak
732Called to implement the built-in functions \verb\oct()\ and
733\verb\hex()\. Should return a string value.
734
Guido van Rossum46f3e001992-08-14 09:11:01 +0000735\end{description}