On Wed, 24 Dec 2008 16:59:23 -0800, Mike Driscoll wrote:
>> Among my questions are: >> """ A little thread we've added""" seems to be an isolated string. It >> does not seem to be doing anything there, almost like a comment. Why is >> it there? > > > That's what some people call a doc string. Other people call it "Maurice". *wink* A doc[umentation] string is the accepted name for it. Anytime a function, class or module starts immediately with a loan string, that string is stored by the Python compiler in an attribute __doc__. E.g.: >>> def parrot(x): ... "This is a doc string." ... return "Norwegian Blue" ... >>> parrot.__doc__ 'This is a doc string.' > It is like a comment in that > it helps the user know what the function is for. Notice the triple > quotes. Triple quotes are a red herring. Any string literal will do. -- Steven -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
