Question

If you have a method called “set” in a class and want to create a standard builtin “set” object somewhere else in the class, Python seems to reference the method when I do that. How can you be more specific to let Python know you mean the builtin “set”, not the method “set”? More specifically, set() is being created in an _____exit_____ function.

Answer 1

I think I know what’s going on here. Are you doing something like this?

>>> class A(object):
...     def set(self):
...             pass
...     def test(self, x=set):
...             return x
... 
>>> set
<type 'set'>
>>> A().test()
<function set at 0x64270>

This is a subtle problem due to the way methods are defined in classes. It is what allows you to make method aliases so easily, e.g.,

class A(object):
    def some_method(self):
        pass
    some_other_method = some_method

You can either put set at the bottom of your class definition, or you can refer to the builtin set using __builtins__.set.