Make the property doctstring writeable

[rhettinger]

BPO	24064
Nosy	@rhettinger, @ethanfurman, @berkerpeksag, @serhiy-storchaka
Files	issue24064.diff property_clear.diff

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = 'https://github.com/rhettinger'
closed_at = <Date 2015-05-13.18:14:33.125>
created_at = <Date 2015-04-27.04:53:07.289>
labels = ['interpreter-core', 'easy', 'type-feature']
title = 'Make the property doctstring writeable'
updated_at = <Date 2015-05-15.23:17:12.668>
user = 'https://github.com/rhettinger'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2015-05-15.23:17:12.668>
actor = 'python-dev'
assignee = 'rhettinger'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2015-05-13.18:14:33.125>
closer = 'rhettinger'
components = ['Interpreter Core']
creation = <Date 2015-04-27.04:53:07.289>
creator = 'rhettinger'
dependencies = []
files = ['39214', '39356']
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 24064
keywords = ['patch', 'easy']
message_count = 11.0
messages = ['242098', '242107', '242334', '243048', '243050', '243054', '243062', '243077', '243079', '243111', '243286']
nosy_count = 6.0
nosy_names = ['rhettinger', 'cvrebert', 'ethan.furman', 'python-dev', 'berker.peksag', 'serhiy.storchaka']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue24064'
versions = ['Python 3.5']

[rhettinger]

I can't see any reason for property docstrings to be readonly:

    >>> p = property(doc='basic')
    >>> p.__doc__
    'basic'
    >>> p.__doc__ = 'extended'
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "<pyshell#46>", line 1, in <module>
        p.__doc__ = 'extended'
    AttributeError: readonly attribute

Among other things, making it writeable would simplify the ability to update the docstrings produced by namedtuple;

    Time.mtime.__doc__ = 'modification time'
    Score.max = 'all time cumulative high score for a single season'

[berkerpeksag]

Here is a patch. I'm not familiar with this part of the CPython source. So please tell me if there is a better way to do it. I only updated Doc/whatsnew/3.5, but other places in the documentation needs to be updated.

[serhiy-storchaka]

If make docstrings writable, it would be good to ensure that they exactly are strings. And if make the property doctstring writable, may be make other docstrings writable? It may be useful for setting the same docstring for Python implementation and C accelerator.

[rhettinger]

If make docstrings writable, it would be good to ensure
that they exactly are strings.

I don't see a need for this restriction. Even regular classes don't enforce this.

[serhiy-storchaka]

Perhaps the property class now need set the tp_clear slot?

[python-dev]

New changeset 1e8a768fa0a5 by Raymond Hettinger in branch 'default':
Issue bpo-24064: Property() docstrings are now writeable.
https://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/1e8a768fa0a5

[python-dev]

New changeset bde652ae05fd by Berker Peksag in branch 'default':
Issue bpo-24064: Add __doc__ to the example in collections.rst.
https://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/bde652ae05fd

[serhiy-storchaka]

LGTM.