[Python-Dev] Column offsets for attribute nodes

[Benjamin Peterson]

2010/12/26 Sven Brauch <svenbrauch at googlemail.com>:
> Hi there,
>
> I recently filed a feature request in the tracker to change the
> behaviour of the parser in terms of setting ranges on attribute AST
> nodes, because I'm working on an application which needs more
> information than is currently provided. I suggested to change the
> behaviour from
> foo.bar.baz # <- foo is said to start at column 0, bar at 0 and baz at
> 0 (current)
> to
> foo.bar.baz # <- foo starts at 0, bar at 3 and baz at 7 (suggestion)
>
> In that discussion, there's been different opinions about which
> behaviour is better; main arguments were "consistency" for the current
> and "usefulness" for the suggested behaviour. It has been proposed to
> ask the question on this list, that's why I'm doing that now. :)

My argument against this change is that an attribute includes the
expression from which the attribute is being taken. This is consistent
with subscripts and calls, which both have the lineno and col_offset
of their source expressions.



-- 
Regards,
Benjamin