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:
- https://github.com/python/mypy/issues/10246
- https://github.com/python/mypy/issues/8057
- issues about typing of lambdas
Sister issue for Pylance/Pyright: https://github.com/microsoft/pyright/issues/7039
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- 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