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Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/glossary.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Doc/glossary.rst | 48 |
1 files changed, 44 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/glossary.rst b/Doc/glossary.rst index 21b92a99a1..cb647a333b 100644 --- a/Doc/glossary.rst +++ b/Doc/glossary.rst @@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ Glossary subclasses, which are classes that don't inherit from a class but are still recognized by :func:`isinstance` and :func:`issubclass`; see the :mod:`abc` module documentation. Python comes with many built-in ABCs for - data structures (in the :mod:`collections` module), numbers (in the + data structures (in the :mod:`collections.abc` module), numbers (in the :mod:`numbers` module), streams (in the :mod:`io` module), import finders and loaders (in the :mod:`importlib.abc` module). You can create your own ABCs with the :mod:`abc` module. @@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ Glossary An object exposing a file-oriented API (with methods such as :meth:`read()` or :meth:`write()`) to an underlying resource. Depending on the way it was created, a file object can mediate access to a real - on-disk file or to another other type of storage or communication device + on-disk file or to another type of storage or communication device (for example standard input/output, in-memory buffers, sockets, pipes, etc.). File objects are also called :dfn:`file-like objects` or :dfn:`streams`. @@ -434,8 +434,8 @@ Glossary mapping A container object that supports arbitrary key lookups and implements the - methods specified in the :class:`~collections.Mapping` or - :class:`~collections.MutableMapping` + methods specified in the :class:`~collections.abc.Mapping` or + :class:`~collections.abc.MutableMapping` :ref:`abstract base classes <collections-abstract-base-classes>`. Examples include :class:`dict`, :class:`collections.defaultdict`, :class:`collections.OrderedDict` and :class:`collections.Counter`. @@ -523,6 +523,20 @@ Glossary definition), or pass several arguments as a list to a function. See :term:`argument`. + provisional package + A provisional package is one which has been deliberately excluded from the + standard library's backwards compatibility guarantees. While major + changes to such packages are not expected, as long as they are marked + provisional, backwards incompatible changes (up to and including removal + of the package) may occur if deemed necessary by core developers. Such + changes will not be made gratuitously -- they will occur only if serious + flaws are uncovered that were missed prior to the inclusion of the + package. + + This process allows the standard library to continue to evolve over time, + without locking in problematic design errors for extended periods of time. + See :pep:`411` for more details. + Python 3000 Nickname for the Python 3.x release line (coined long ago when the release of version 3 was something in the distant future.) This is also @@ -544,6 +558,24 @@ Glossary for piece in food: print(piece) + qualified name + A dotted name showing the "path" from a module's global scope to a + class, function or method defined in that module, as defined in + :pep:`3155`. For top-level functions and classes, the qualified name + is the same as the object's name:: + + >>> class C: + ... class D: + ... def meth(self): + ... pass + ... + >>> C.__qualname__ + 'C' + >>> C.D.__qualname__ + 'C.D' + >>> C.D.meth.__qualname__ + 'C.D.meth' + reference count The number of references to an object. When the reference count of an object drops to zero, it is deallocated. Reference counting is @@ -586,6 +618,14 @@ Glossary an :term:`expression` or a one of several constructs with a keyword, such as :keyword:`if`, :keyword:`while` or :keyword:`for`. + struct sequence + A tuple with named elements. Struct sequences expose an interface similar + to :term:`named tuple` in that elements can either be accessed either by + index or as an attribute. However, they do not have any of the named tuple + methods like :meth:`~collections.somenamedtuple._make` or + :meth:`~collections.somenamedtuple._asdict`. Examples of struct sequences + include :data:`sys.float_info` and the return value of :func:`os.stat`. + triple-quoted string A string which is bound by three instances of either a quotation mark (") or an apostrophe ('). While they don't provide any functionality |