argument type

[Alex Martelli]

Steven Bethard <steven.bethard at gmail.com> wrote:

> below).  I personally prefer the latter because it seems much more 
> likely that users will define alternate collection classes than that 
> users will define alternate string classes.  My code would look like:
> 
>      def abc(arg1, arg2, arg3):
>          if not isinstance(arg2, basestring):

Moreover, if the user DID define alternate string classes, they really
_should_ inherit basestring.  basestring is a 'flag' class -- it doesn't
give any functionality nor impose any burden -- all it exists for is to
support this kind of isinstance usage.


Alex