Using dir() as an autocomplete feature?

[microphone_head]

Hi all,

I have been toying with the idea of making a python IDE . I was wonder about how to implement an autocomplete feature and believe the “dir()” command would be usefull in creating a list of attributes and methods. Can anyone tell me why relying on the dir() would be a bad idea?

dir(pygame)

Output:
['ACTIVEEVENT', 'ANYFORMAT', 'ASYNCBLIT', 'AUDIO_S16', 'AUDIO_S16LSB', 'AUDIO_S16MSB', 'AUDIO_S16SYS', 'AUDIO_S8', 'AUDIO_U16', 'AUDIO_U16LSB', 'AUDIO_U16MSB', 'AUDIO_U16SYS', 'AUDIO_U8', 'BIG_ENDIAN', 'BLEND_ADD', 'BLEND_MAX', 'BLEND_MIN', 'BLEND_MULT', 'BLEND_PREMULTIPLIED', 'BLEND_RGBA_ADD', 'BLEND_RGBA_MAX', 'BLEND_RGBA_MIN', 'BLEND_RGBA_MULT', 'BLEND_RGBA_SUB', 'BLEND_RGB_ADD', 'BLEND_RGB_MAX', 'BLEND_RGB_MIN', 'BLEND_RGB_MULT', 'BLEND_RGB_SUB', 'BLEND_SUB', 'BUTTON_X1', 'BUTTON_X2', 'BufferError', 'BufferProxy', 'Color', 'DOUBLEBUF', 'FULLSCREEN', 'GL_ACCELERATED_VISUAL', 'GL_ACCUM_ALPHA_SIZE', 'GL_ACCUM_BLUE_SIZE', 'GL_ACCUM_GREEN_SIZE', 'GL_ACCUM_RED_SIZE', 'GL_ALPHA_SIZE', 'GL_BLUE_SIZE', 'GL_BUFFER_SIZE', 'GL_DEPTH_SIZE', 'GL_DOUBLEBUFFER', 'GL_GREEN_SIZE', 'GL_MULTISAMPLEBUFFERS', 'GL_MULTISAMPLESAMPLES', 'GL_RED_SIZE', 'GL_STENCIL_SIZE', 'GL_STEREO', 'GL_SWAP_CONTROL', 'HAT_CENTERED', 'HAT_DOWN', 'HAT_LEFT', 'HAT_LEFTDOWN', 'HAT_LEFTUP', 'HAT_RIGHT', 'HAT_RIGHTDOWN', 'HAT_RIGHTUP', 'HAT_UP', 'HAVE_NEWBUF', 'HWACCEL', 'HWPALETTE', 'HWSURFACE', 'IYUV_OVERLAY', 'JOYAXISMOTION', 'JOYBALLMOTION', 'JOYBUTTONDOWN', 'JOYBUTTONUP', 'JOYHATMOTION', 'KEYDOWN', 'KEYUP', 'KMOD_ALT', 'KMOD_CAPS', 'KMOD_CTRL', 'KMOD_LALT', 'KMOD_LCTRL', 'KMOD_LMETA', 'KMOD_LSHIFT', 'KMOD_META', 'KMOD_MODE', 'KMOD_NONE', 'KMOD_NUM', 'KMOD_RALT', 'KMOD_RCTRL', 'KMOD_RMETA', 'KMOD_RSHIFT', 'KMOD_SHIFT', 'K_0', 'K_1', 'K_2', 'K_3', 'K_4', 'K_5', 'K_6', 'K_7', 'K_8', 'K_9', 'K_AMPERSAND', 'K_ASTERISK', 'K_AT', 'K_BACKQUOTE', 'K_BACKSLASH', 'K_BACKSPACE', 'K_BREAK', 'K_CAPSLOCK', 'K_CARET', 'K_CLEAR', 'K_COLON', 'K_COMMA', 'K_DELETE', 'K_DOLLAR', 'K_DOWN', 'K_END', 'K_EQUALS', 'K_ESCAPE', 'K_EURO', 'K_EXCLAIM', 'K_F1', 'K_F10', 'K_F11', 'K_F12', 'K_F13', 'K_F14', 'K_F15', 'K_F2', 'K_F3', 'K_F4', 'K_F5', 'K_F6', 'K_F7', 'K_F8', 'K_F9', 'K_FIRST', 'K_GREATER', 'K_HASH', 'K_HELP', 'K_HOME', 'K_INSERT', 'K_KP0', 'K_KP1', 'K_KP2', 'K_KP3', 'K_KP4', 'K_KP5', 'K_KP6', 'K_KP7', 'K_KP8', 'K_KP9', 'K_KP_DIVIDE', 'K_KP_ENTER', 'K_KP_EQUALS', 'K_KP_MINUS', 'K_KP_MULTIPLY', 'K_KP_PERIOD', 'K_KP_PLUS', 'K_LALT', 'K_LAST', 'K_LCTRL', 'K_LEFT', 'K_LEFTBRACKET', 'K_LEFTPAREN', 'K_LESS', 'K_LMETA', 'K_LSHIFT', 'K_LSUPER', 'K_MENU', 'K_MINUS', 'K_MODE', 'K_NUMLOCK', 'K_PAGEDOWN', 'K_PAGEUP', 'K_PAUSE', 'K_PERIOD', 'K_PLUS', 'K_POWER', 'K_PRINT', 'K_QUESTION', 'K_QUOTE', 'K_QUOTEDBL', 'K_RALT', 'K_RCTRL', 'K_RETURN', 'K_RIGHT', 'K_RIGHTBRACKET', 'K_RIGHTPAREN', 'K_RMETA', 'K_RSHIFT', 'K_RSUPER', 'K_SCROLLOCK', 'K_SEMICOLON', 'K_SLASH', 'K_SPACE', 'K_SYSREQ', 'K_TAB', 'K_UNDERSCORE', 'K_UNKNOWN', 'K_UP', 'K_a', 'K_b', 'K_c', 'K_d', 'K_e', 'K_f', 'K_g', 'K_h', 'K_i', 'K_j', 'K_k', 'K_l', 'K_m', 'K_n', 'K_o', 'K_p', 'K_q', 'K_r', 'K_s', 'K_t', 'K_u', 'K_v', 'K_w', 'K_x', 'K_y', 'K_z', 'LIL_ENDIAN', 'MOUSEBUTTONDOWN', 'MOUSEBUTTONUP', 'MOUSEMOTION', 'Mask', 'NOEVENT', 'NOFRAME', 'NUMEVENTS', 'OPENGL', 'OPENGLBLIT', 'Overlay', 'PREALLOC', 'PixelArray', 'QUIT', 'RESIZABLE', 'RLEACCEL', 'RLEACCELOK', 'Rect', 'SCRAP_BMP', 'SCRAP_CLIPBOARD', 'SCRAP_PBM', 'SCRAP_PPM', 'SCRAP_SELECTION', 'SCRAP_TEXT', 'SRCALPHA', 'SRCCOLORKEY', 'SWSURFACE', 'SYSWMEVENT', 'Surface', 'SurfaceType', 'TIMER_RESOLUTION', 'USEREVENT', 'USEREVENT_DROPFILE', 'UYVY_OVERLAY', 'VIDEOEXPOSE', 'VIDEORESIZE', 'YUY2_OVERLAY', 'YV12_OVERLAY', 'YVYU_OVERLAY', '__builtins__', '__cached__', '__color_constructor', '__color_reduce', '__doc__', '__file__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__', '__path__', '__rect_constructor', '__rect_reduce', '__spec__', '__version__', '_numpysndarray', '_numpysurfarray', 'base', 'bufferproxy', 'cdrom', 'color', 'colordict', 'compat', 'constants', 'cursors', 'display', 'draw', 'encode_file_path', 'encode_string', 'error', 'event', 'fastevent', 'font', 'get_array_interface', 'get_error', 'get_sdl_byteorder', 'get_sdl_version', 'image', 'init', 'joystick', 'key', 'mask', 'math', 'mixer', 'mixer_music', 'mouse', 'movie', 'overlay', 'packager_imports', 'pixelarray', 'pixelcopy', 'quit', 'rect', 'register_quit', 'rev', 'rwobject', 'scrap', 'segfault', 'set_error', 'sndarray', 'sprite', 'surface', 'surfarray', 'sysfont', 'threads', 'time', 'transform', 'ver', 'vernum', 'version', 'warn_unwanted_files']

[nilamo]

Can anyone tell me why relying on the dir() would be a bad idea?

Sure, dir() lets you know what's available, but it doesn't tell you what any of that means, or how to use it, etc. For an ide, it (normally) isn't enough to just show information, you want to also show whether or not it's a function, what it's arguments are, what sort of values you can expect as a return value, etc.

Luckily, there are builtin packages that can provide all that information: inspect pyclbr dbd and possibly code if you want to have a built-in repl.

https://docs.python.org/3/library/inspect.html
https://docs.python.org/3/library/pyclbr.html
https://docs.python.org/3/library/bdb.html
https://docs.python.org/3/library/code.html

[wavic]

You don't have to invent the wheel - prompt-toolkit.
The autocompletion here: https://python-prompt-toolkit.readthedoc...completion

[microphone_head]

Thanks for the heads-up, nice link.

I haven't tried it as yet because I haven't installed it, but it looks like a good starting point .