google / google/python-fire

Type information should be visible in help screen

Open
#239 1 comment 4 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Dominant language
Python
Stars
28.2k
Forks
1.5k
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Description

Function signatures containing typing information should also show this in the help screen. For instance, I would expect the `--help` screen for `def main(arg1: str, arg2=False):` to indicate arg1 is a string type and arg2 is a bool type with default false.

I think the easiest way to make this happen is to:
- _Always_ use type information when available (even if it contradicts the default argument, since this is a developer issue -- not worth hashing out in `fire`).

However, a common programming paradigm is to write something like the following:
```python
def main(arg1: List[str] = None):
if arg1 is None:
arg1 = ['hi', 'there']
```
You can probably follow Pycharm's flow, where they redefine arg1 as Optional[List[str]]. I think this is the only valid case where the provided default doesn't match the type hint.

- Use the type of the default argument if no type information is given
- Provide no type information if both the above are missing.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Assessment

This issue has not been assessed yet.

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.