imperative mood in docstrings

[Ethan Furman]

On 02/09/2014 08:52 AM, Roy Smith wrote:
> In article <mailman.6584.1391950328.18130.python-list at python.org>,
>   bagrat lazaryan <bagratte at live.com> wrote:
>
>> pep 257 -- docstring conventions, as well as a myriad of books and other
>> resources, recommend documenting a function's or method's effect as a command
>> ("do this", "return that"), not as a description ("does this", "returns
>> that"). what's the logic behind this recommendation?
>>
>> bagratte
>
> Methods are verbs, and should be described as such.  If I had:
>
> class Sheep:
>     def fly(self):
>        "Plummet to the ground."
>
> I'm defining the action the verb performs.  If, on the other hand, I had:

Shouldn't that be:

   class Pig:
       def fly(self):
       "Soar gracefully through the air if a hot place is very cold."
           if hell is frozen:
               self.sprout_wings()
               self.altitude += 10
               self.velocity += 25
           else:
               self.splat()

;)

--
~Ethan~