python / python/mypy

Type inference on `owner` argument to `__set_name__`

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Description

Because of the circumstances under which __set_name__ is invoked, it should be possible to perform type inference on its owner argument, in a way which could be used to statically typecheck other components of a descriptor.

As a brief motivating example, below is a sketch of descriptor for a validated mutable attribute of integer type:


from __future__ import annotations
from typing import Any, Generic, Protocol, Self, Type, TypeVar, cast, overload

InstanceT = TypeVar("InstanceT")
InstanceT_contra = TypeVar("InstanceT_contra", contravariant=True)

class Validator(Protocol[InstanceT_contra]):

    def __call__(self, instance: InstanceT_contra, value: int, /) -> bool:
        ...

class IntAttr(Generic[InstanceT]):

    __validator: Validator[InstanceT]
    __name: str

    def __init__(self, validator: Validator[InstanceT]) -> None:
        self.__validator = validator

    def __set_name__(self, owner: Type[InstanceT], name: str) -> None:
        self.__name = name

    @overload
    def __get__(self, instance: None, _: Type[Any]) -> Self:
        ...

    @overload
    def __get__(self, instance: InstanceT, _: Type[Any]) -> int:
        ...

    def __get__(self, instance: InstanceT|None, _: Type[Any]) -> int | Self:
        if instance is None:
            return self
        return cast(int, getattr(instance, f"__{self.__name}"))

    def __set__(self, instance: InstanceT, value: int) -> None:
        if not self.__validator(instance, value):
            raise ValueError()
        setattr(instance, f"__{self.__name}", value)

class C:

    x = IntAttr(lambda self, value: self.validate(value)) # Pylance error

    def validate(self, value: int) -> bool:
        return value >= 10

In Pylance with strict typechecking rules, the definition of the x descriptor raises the following errors:

reportUnknownMemberType
  Type of "validate" is unknown 
reportUnknownLambdaType
  Return type of lambda is unknown
reportGeneralTypeIssues
  Cannot access member "validate" for type "object*"
    Member "validate" is unknown

Currently, Mypy doesn't raise any errors about the lack of lambda typing (not even for incorrect implementations, such as self.validatez(value) or self.validate(str(value))). Mypy also doesn't raise errors about incorrect lambda implementations once an explicit type hint is provided (see below), while Pylance does.
I opened a separate issue about this: https://github.com/python/mypy/issues/16797

Explicitly providing a hint for the InstanceT type removes the errors for Pylance:

class C:

    x = IntAttr["C"](lambda self, value: self.validate(value)) # Errors

    def validate(self, value: int) -> bool:
        return value >= 10

Performing inference on the owner argument to IntAttr.__set_name__ in the context of class C would ideally result in C being inferred as a value for InstanceT, allowing for static typecheking of the validator lambda function without the need for an explicit type hint.

Related issues for Mypy:

Sister issue for Pylance/Pyright: https://github.com/microsoft/pyright/issues/7039

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the descriptor example and the requested inference of the owner argument to set_name; no implementation files or tests are identified in the issue. Review the related Mypy issues 10246 and 8057, then determine how class-body inference should type the validator lambda and how incorrect implementations should be rejected.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
devtools
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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