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authorR David Murray <rdmurray@bitdance.com>2012-09-11 17:01:43 (GMT)
committerR David Murray <rdmurray@bitdance.com>2012-09-11 17:01:43 (GMT)
commitd8bbde35fee845b96c55543088b0f8ddcc1aec12 (patch)
tree9cb6d4a5be0c853c476f6ba8e302a9236132b2c2 /Doc/reference
parent5557a9c73fc52276c3fb382491b3f9fe5999a042 (diff)
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#14617: clarify discussion of interrelationship of __eq__ and __hash__.
Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/reference')
-rw-r--r--Doc/reference/datamodel.rst26
1 files changed, 13 insertions, 13 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst b/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst
index 7dcd459..2ddb852 100644
--- a/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst
+++ b/Doc/reference/datamodel.rst
@@ -1255,22 +1255,22 @@ Basic customization
by default; with them, all objects compare unequal (except with themselves)
and ``x.__hash__()`` returns ``id(x)``.
- Classes which inherit a :meth:`__hash__` method from a parent class but
- change the meaning of :meth:`__eq__` such that the hash value returned is no
- longer appropriate (e.g. by switching to a value-based concept of equality
- instead of the default identity based equality) can explicitly flag
- themselves as being unhashable by setting ``__hash__ = None`` in the class
- definition. Doing so means that not only will instances of the class raise an
- appropriate :exc:`TypeError` when a program attempts to retrieve their hash
- value, but they will also be correctly identified as unhashable when checking
- ``isinstance(obj, collections.Hashable)`` (unlike classes which define their
- own :meth:`__hash__` to explicitly raise :exc:`TypeError`).
+ A class that overrides :meth:`__eq__` and does not define :meth:`__hash__`
+ will have its :meth:`__hash__` implicitly set to ``None``. When the
+ :meth:`__hash__` method of a class is ``None``, instances of the class will
+ raise an appropriate :exc:`TypeError` when a program attempts to retrieve
+ their hash value, and will also be correctly identified as unhashable when
+ checking ``isinstance(obj, collections.Hashable``).
If a class that overrides :meth:`__eq__` needs to retain the implementation
of :meth:`__hash__` from a parent class, the interpreter must be told this
- explicitly by setting ``__hash__ = <ParentClass>.__hash__``. Otherwise the
- inheritance of :meth:`__hash__` will be blocked, just as if :attr:`__hash__`
- had been explicitly set to :const:`None`.
+ explicitly by setting ``__hash__ = <ParentClass>.__hash__``.
+
+ If a class that does not override :meth:`__eq__` wishes to suppress hash
+ support, it should include ``__hash__ = None`` in the class definition.
+ A class which defines its own :meth:`__hash__` that explicitly raises
+ a :exc:`TypeError` would be incorrectly identified as hashable by
+ an ``isinstance(obj, collections.Hashable)`` call.
See also the :option:`-R` command-line option.