NCAS-CMS / NCAS-CMS/cf-python

Explicitly define public API with `__all__`

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API review (4.0.0) documentation
Dominant language
Python
Stars
150
Forks
23
Avg merge
1d 11h
Merged PRs (30d)
2

Description

We don't define the __all__ variable across the cf-python codebase, however we should because doing so has a number of benefits - through providing a single machine-readable source of truth for the API.

One, which I'll note (alone, otherwise see link above to benefits) because it relates to what I'm working on with #957 fixes, is to allow us to know canonically what should be present in the documentation, for example for our API coverage check script to use.

I'm labelling this also with 'API review (4.0.0)' because it can allow us to see more clearly the public API we have, facilitating review of it.

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Research direction

Start by reviewing the cf-python package modules and docs/source/check_docs_api_coverage.py to understand which names are treated as public and how API coverage is checked. Define the intended public names consistently across the codebase, then verify that the documentation coverage script can use the declarations as its canonical source.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
api
Issue type
Refactor
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
48/100

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