inspects

Inspection utilities for methods, function argument resolution, and decorator-based default-value management.

The inspects module extends Python’s inspect module with utilities for method detection, argument mapping, and runtime modification of function default values.

issetdescriptor

Returns True if the object is a method descriptor that exposes a setter (has a __set__ attribute), but is not a class, method, or function.

from alexber.utils.inspects import issetdescriptor

class MyDescriptor:
    def __set__(self, obj, value):
        pass

issetdescriptor(MyDescriptor())  # True
issetdescriptor(lambda: None)    # False

object · any · required

The object to inspect.

Returns: bool

---

ismethod

Checks whether the given object is a bound method.

Differs from inspect.ismethod in that it also returns True for functions that carry a __self__ attribute (e.g. methods accessed through certain descriptors).

from alexber.utils.inspects import ismethod

class MyClass:
    def my_method(self):
        pass

obj = MyClass()
ismethod(obj.my_method)  # True
ismethod(MyClass)        # False  (class, not method)
ismethod(lambda: None)   # False  (plain function)

object · any · required

The object to check.

Returns: bool — True if the object is a bound method.

---

has_method

Checks whether a class (or any class in its MRO) defines a callable attribute with the given name.

from alexber.utils.inspects import has_method

has_method(list, 'append')   # True
has_method(list, 'nonexistent')  # False

cls · type · required

The class to inspect.

methodName · str · required

Name of the method to look for.

Returns: bool — True if cls (or one of its base classes) has a routine with the given name.

---

resolve_function_args

Resolves the complete set of arguments for a function call, merging explicit positional/keyword arguments with the function’s default values.

from alexber.utils.inspects import resolve_function_args

def greet(name, greeting='Hello'):
    return f'{greeting}, {name}!'

# Explicit args only
resolve_function_args(greet, 'Alice')
# {'name': 'Alice', 'greeting': 'Hello'}

# Override a default
resolve_function_args(greet, 'Bob', greeting='Hi')
# {'name': 'Bob', 'greeting': 'Hi'}

func · Callable · required

The function whose argument mapping is to be resolved.

*args · any

Positional arguments as they would be passed to func.

**kwargs · any

Keyword arguments as they would be passed to func.

Returns: Dict[str, Any] — mapping of parameter names to their resolved values (explicit arguments take precedence over defaults).

---

update_function_defaults

Decorator that modifies or removes default parameter values of a function at call time.

from alexber.utils.inspects import update_function_defaults

def connect(host='localhost', port=5432, timeout=30):
    ...

# Change the default port and remove the default timeout
decorated = update_function_defaults(
    connect,
    new_defaults={'port': 6543},
    remove_defaults=['timeout'],
)

# Now 'timeout' has no default — callers must supply it
decorated(timeout=10)  # host='localhost', port=6543, timeout=10

func · Callable · required

The function or method to decorate.

new_defaults · Dict[str, Any]

Mapping of parameter names to their new default values. Defaults to {}.

remove_defaults · List[str]

List of parameter names whose default values should be removed, making them required. Defaults to [].

is_forced · bool

If False (default), only parameters that already have a default value are updated. If True, all parameters listed in new_defaults or remove_defaults are updated regardless of whether they originally had defaults.

Returns: A new callable (wrapper function) with the modified signature. The original function’s __name__, __doc__, and other attributes are preserved via functools.wraps.