Update PEP 575 (#608)

pep-0575.rst

@@ -84,15 +84,17 @@ It behaves like the existing ``builtin_function_or_method``
 with some differences:
 
 #. It acts as a descriptor implementing ``__get__`` to turn a function into a method
-   if there was no ``__self__`` attribute.
-   If the ``__self__`` attribute was already set, then this is a no-op:
-   the existing function is returned instead.
+   if ``m_self`` is ``NULL``.
+   If ``m_self`` is not ``NULL``,
+   then this is a no-op: the existing function is returned instead.
 
 #. A new read-only slot ``__objclass__``, represented in the C structure as ``m_objclass``.
-   If this attribute exists, it must be an extension type.
+   If this attribute exists, it must be a class.
    If so, the function must be called with ``self`` being an instance of that class.
-   This is meant to support unbound methods of extension types, replacing ``method_descriptor``.
-   The pointer ``m_objclass`` is not considered a reference.
+   This is mainly meant to support unbound methods of extension types,
+   replacing ``method_descriptor``.
+   Also ``__qualname__`` will use ``__objclass__`` as namespace
+   (instead of ``__self__``).
 
 #. Argument Clinic [#clinic]_ is not supported.
 
@@ -107,10 +109,17 @@ with some differences:
    equal to the function object instead of ``__self__``.
 
 #. A new flag ``METH_ARG0_NO_SLICE`` for ``ml_flags``.
-   If this flag is *not* set, ``__objclass__`` is set and ``__self__`` is not set,
+   If this flag is *not* set and ``__self__`` is not set,
    then the first positional argument is treated as ``__self__``.
    For more details, see `Self slicing`_.
 
+#. A new flag ``METH_BINDING`` for ``ml_flags`` which only applies to
+   functions of a module (not methods of a class).
+   If this flag is set, then ``m_self`` will be set to ``NULL`` instead
+   of the module.
+   This allows the function to behave more like a Python function
+   as it enables ``__get__``.
+
 #. A new flag ``METH_PYTHON`` for ``ml_flags``.
    This flag indicates that this function should be treated as Python function.
    Ideally, use of this flag should be avoided because it goes
@@ -257,16 +266,16 @@ It adds one new attribute on top of ``basefunction``:
 which was used only for Python functions bound as method.
 
 There is a complication because we want to allow
-constructing a method from a arbitrary callable which
-may not be an instance of ``basefunction``.
+constructing a method from an arbitrary callable.
+This may be an already-bound method or simply not an instance of ``basefunction``.
 Therefore, in practice there are two kinds of methods:
 for arbitrary callables, we use a single fixed ``PyCFunctionDef``
-structure with ``ml_name`` equal to ``"?"``
-and with the ``METH_ARG0_FUNCTION`` flag set.
+structure with the ``METH_ARG0_FUNCTION`` flag set.
 The C function then calls ``__func__`` with the correct arguments.
 
 For methods which bind instances of ``basefunction``
-(more precisely, which have the ``Py_TPFLAGS_BASEFUNCTION`` flag set),
+(more precisely, which have the ``Py_TPFLAGS_BASEFUNCTION`` flag set)
+that have ``m_self == NULL``,
 we instead use the ``PyCFunctionDef`` from the original function.
 In this case, the ``__func__`` attribute is only used to implement various attributes
 but not for calling the method.
@@ -292,8 +301,8 @@ We specify the implementation of ``__call__`` for instances of ``basefunction``.
 __objclass__
 ------------
 
-First of all, if the function has an ``__objclass__`` attribute but no
-``__self__`` attribute (this is the case for unbound methods of extension types),
+First of all, if the function has an ``__objclass__`` attribute but
+``m_self`` is ``NULL`` (this is the case for non-static unbound methods of extension types),
 then the function must be called with at least one positional argument
 and the first (typically called ``self``) must be an instance of ``__objclass__``.
 If not, a ``TypeError`` is raised.
@@ -321,9 +330,9 @@ We explain the others shortly.
 Self slicing
 ------------
 
-If the function has a ``__objclass__`` attribute, no ``__self__``
-attribute and neither ``METH_ARG0_FUNCTION`` nor ``METH_ARG0_NO_SLICE`` is set,
-then the first positional argument (which must exist because of ``__objclass__``)
+If the function has no ``__self__``
+attribute and none of the flags ``METH_ARG0_FUNCTION``, ``METH_ARG0_NO_SLICE`` nor ``METH_STATIC`` is set,
+then the first positional argument (if any)
 is removed from ``*args`` and instead passed as first argument to the C function.
 Effectively, the first positional argument is treated as ``__self__``.
 This process is called "self slicing".
@@ -395,7 +404,7 @@ Built-in functions of a module
 ------------------------------
 
 For the case of functions of a module,
-``__self__`` will be set to the module unless the flag ``METH_STATIC`` is set.
+``__self__`` will be set to the module unless the flag ``METH_BINDING`` is set.
 
 An important consequence is that such functions by default
 do not become methods when used as attribute
@@ -405,9 +414,7 @@ in an initial post on python-ideas [#proposal]_ the concensus was to keep this
 misfeature of built-in functions.
 
 However, to allow this anyway for specific or newly implemented
-built-in functions, the ``METH_STATIC`` flag prevents setting ``__self__``.
-Previously, ``METH_STATIC`` was an error, so this is fullt backwards compatible.
-Specifying ``METH_CLASS`` is still an error.
+built-in functions, the ``METH_BINDING`` flag prevents setting ``__self__``.
 
 
 Further changes
@@ -439,12 +446,19 @@ We add and change some Python/C API functions:
 - ``int PyBaseFunction_Check(PyObject *op)``: return true if ``op``
   is an instance of a type with the ``Py_TPFLAGS_BASEFUNCTION`` set.
 
-- ``int PyCFunction_Check(PyObject *op)``: return true if ``PyBaseFunction_Check(op)``
-  is True and the function ``op`` does not have the flag ``METH_PYTHON`` set.
+- ``PyObject* PyBaseFunction_New(PyTypeObject *cls, PyCFunctionDef *ml, PyObject *self, PyObject *module, PyTypeObject *objclass)``:
+  create a new instance of ``cls`` (which must be a subclass of ``basefunction``)
+  from the given data.
 
-- ``int PyBuiltinFunction_Check(PyObject *op)``: return true if ``op``
+- ``int PyCFunction_Check(PyObject *op)``: return true if ``op``
   is an instance of ``builtin_function``.
 
+- ``int PyCFunction_NewEx(PyMethodDef* ml, PyObject *self, PyObject* module)``:
+  create a new instance of ``builtin_function``.
+  As special case, if ``self`` is ``NULL``,
+  then set ``self = Py_None`` instead.
+  This is done for backwards compatibility.
+
 - ``int PyFunction_Check(PyObject *op)``: return true if ``op``
   is an instance of ``generic_function``.
 
@@ -460,10 +474,6 @@ We add and change some Python/C API functions:
   For backwards compatibility,
   the old functions are kept as aliases of the new functions.
 
-**TODO**: more functions may be added when implementing this PEP.
-In particular, there should probably be functions for creating instances of ``basefunction``
-or ``generic_function``.
-
 Changes to the types module
 ---------------------------
 
@@ -659,24 +669,24 @@ of ``PyBaseFunctionObject.m_ml.ml_meth`` with flags
 ``METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS | METH_ARG0_FUNCTION``.
 Therefore, it should be easy to change existing ``tp_call`` slots
 to use ``METH_ARG0_FUNCTION``.
-There is just one extra complication: ``__self__`` must be handled manually.
-That is not hard though: it just means adapting that logic from ``method``.
+There is one extra complication though: ``__self__`` must be handled manually.
 
 Self slicing: METH_ARG0_NO_SLICE
 --------------------------------
 
-We define "self slicing" to mean slicing off the ``self`` argument of a method
+**TODO**: ``METH_ARG0_NO_SLICE`` will probably be dropped from
+the PEP since both ``METH_ARG0_FUNCTION`` and ``METH_STATIC``
+already disable self slicing.
+
+..  We define "self slicing" to mean slicing off the ``self`` argument of a method
     from the ``*args`` tuple when an unbound method is called.
     This ``self`` argument is then passed as first argument to the C function.
 
-The specification of ``METH_ARG0_NO_SLICE`` may seem strange at first.
+..  The specification of ``METH_ARG0_NO_SLICE`` may seem strange at first.
     The negation is confusing, but it is done for backwards compatibility:
     existing methods require self slicing but do not specify a flag for it.
 
-The requirement for ``__objclass__`` in order to use self slicing
-makes sense because it guarantees that there is a ``self`` argument in the first place.
-
-Since ``METH_ARG0_FUNCTION`` is clearly incompatible with self slicing
+..  Since ``METH_ARG0_FUNCTION`` is clearly incompatible with self slicing
     (both use the first argument of the C function),
     this PEP dictates that ``METH_ARG0_FUNCTION`` disables self slicing.
     So one may wonder if there is actually a use case for ``METH_ARG0_NO_SLICE``
@@ -684,12 +694,9 @@ without ``METH_ARG0_FUNCTION``.
     If not, then one could simply unify those two flags in one flag
     ``METH_ARG0_FUNCTION``.
 
-However, a priori, the flag ``METH_ARG0_NO_SLICE`` is meaningful,
+..  However, a priori, the flag ``METH_ARG0_NO_SLICE`` is meaningful,
     so we keep the two flags ``METH_ARG0_FUNCTION`` and ``METH_ARG0_NO_SLICE`` separate.
 
-**TODO**: this should be reconsidered after initial implementation
-and testing of this PEP.
-
 User flags: METH_CUSTOM and METH_USRx
 -------------------------------------