Question

I created a django project. It contains a model class with a “type” attribute. I think that “type” is the most appropriate term to describe that field, because it defines the kind of the entry.

class Vehicle(models.Model):
    TYPE = (
        (u'car', u'Car'),
        (u'motorcycle', u'Motorcycle'),
        (u'airplane', u'Airplane'),
    )

    type = models.CharField(max_length=100, choices=TYPE)

I do not like “kind” or “category” that much because they are not as generic as “type”.

The problem

Assignment to reserved built-in symbol: type

1. This is a warning, so is that a problem?
2. If yes, what choices do i have?
3. Do you have a good alternative to the term “type”?

Answer 1

1. It’s always a bad idea to have a variable name that shadows one of
   python’s built-ins. It will confuse people reading your code, who expect type to mean something specific. Less important than readability to other users it can also throw off syntax highlighting.
2. Rename the variable. (really it’s the best thing to do – you could leave it, but rename now while it’s easy)
3. There are lots of potential options, perhaps classification or category. I know you said you don’t like category, but I can’t see what’s not generic about it?

It might be that it would be overkill for your specific application (would need to know more), but django does support model inheritance.