functools' singledispatch does not support GenericAlias

[kumaraditya303]

BPO	46032
Nosy	@rhettinger, @ambv, @serhiy-storchaka, @miss-islington, @uriyyo, @kumaraditya303, @AlexWaygood
PRs	bpo-46032: Check types in singledispatch's register() at declaration time #30050 [3.10] bpo-46032: Check types in singledispatch's register() at declaration time (GH-30050) #30254 [3.9] bpo-46032: Check types in singledispatch's register() at declaration time (GH-30050) (GH-30254) #30255

^{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/serhiy-storchaka'
closed_at = <Date 2021-12-26.12:23:57.239>
created_at = <Date 2021-12-10.09:04:56.137>
labels = ['type-bug', '3.9', '3.10', '3.11', 'library', 'docs']
title = "functools' singledispatch does not support GenericAlias"
updated_at = <Date 2021-12-26.12:23:57.239>
user = 'https://github.com/kumaraditya303'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2021-12-26.12:23:57.239>
actor = 'serhiy.storchaka'
assignee = 'serhiy.storchaka'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2021-12-26.12:23:57.239>
closer = 'serhiy.storchaka'
components = ['Documentation', 'Library (Lib)']
creation = <Date 2021-12-10.09:04:56.137>
creator = 'kumaraditya'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 46032
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 9.0
messages = ['408179', '408181', '408204', '408205', '408306', '408348', '409169', '409170', '409197']
nosy_count = 7.0
nosy_names = ['rhettinger', 'lukasz.langa', 'serhiy.storchaka', 'miss-islington', 'uriyyo', 'kumaraditya', 'AlexWaygood']
pr_nums = ['30050', '30254', '30255']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue46032'
versions = ['Python 3.9', 'Python 3.10', 'Python 3.11']

Linked PRs

• gh-90190: Add doc for using singledispatch with precise collection type hints #116544
• [3.13] gh-90190: Add doc for using singledispatch with precise collection type hints (GH-116544) #124710
• [3.12] gh-90190: Add doc for using singledispatch with precise collection type hints (GH-116544) #124711

[kumaraditya303]

functools' singledispatch does not support GenericAlias

from functools import singledispatch

@singledispatch
def func(x):
 print("any")

@func.register
def _(x: list[str]):
 print("list[str]")


func(["a", "b"])

[AlexWaygood]

My opinion is that supporting GenericAlias here would be a bad idea. Associating an implementation of the function with the argument type list[str] is ambiguous. Would this implementation be called if any argument of type list was supplied, or would it only be called if all elements in the list were of type str?

The first option would be efficient, simple, and similar to the way singledispatch treats most other argument-types. However, it would be unintuitive.

The second option would be more intuitive, but could be extremely inefficient if a very long list was passed in. It would also make the code more complicated.

[AlexWaygood]

It would be well worth it to improve the error message, however:

>>> from functools import singledispatch
>>> @singledispatch
... def func(arg):
... raise NotImplementedError
... 
>>> @func.register
... def _(arg: list[str]):
... print('Got a list of strings')
... 
>>> func(1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/functools.py", line 830, in dispatch
 impl = dispatch_cache[cls]
 File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/weakref.py", line 405, in __getitem__
 return self.data[ref(key)]
KeyError: <weakref at 0x7f2a0d9141d0; to 'type' at 0x7f2a0e08b200 (int)>

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/functools.py", line 833, in dispatch
 impl = registry[cls]
KeyError: <class 'int'>

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
 File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/functools.py", line 877, in wrapper
 return dispatch(args[0].__class__)(*args, **kw)
 return dispatch(args[0].__class__)(*args, **kw)
 File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/functools.py", line 835, in dispatch
 impl = _find_impl(cls, registry)
 File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/functools.py", line 782, in _find_impl
 mro = _compose_mro(cls, registry.keys())
 File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/functools.py", line 743, in _compose_mro
 types = [n for n in types if is_related(n)]
 File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/functools.py", line 743, in <listcomp>
 types = [n for n in types if is_related(n)]
 File "/usr/local/lib/python3.9/functools.py", line 742, in is_related
 and issubclass(cls, typ))
TypeError: issubclass() argument 2 cannot be a parameterized generic

[AlexWaygood]

The above traceback is because the isinstance(list[str], type) check at Lib/functools.py:848 evaluates to True. Related: bpo-45665.

[serhiy-storchaka]

Yes, it is related to bpo-45665. It is a complicated case due to coincidence of several circumstances.

1. isinstance(list[int], type) is True, while isinstance(typing.List[int], type) is False. list[int] is considered a type in this check.

2. list[int].__mro__ == list.__mro__, while typing.List[int] does not have the __mro__ attribute. list[int] is considered a type in this check.

3. issubclass(cls, list[int]) raises a TypeError (the same for typing.List[int]). list[int] cannot be used as a type here.

4. 2-argument registry() does not check the type of its first argument. f.registry(42, ...) is silently passed.

In 2-argument registry() typing.List[int] is passed due to (4) and ignored in dispatch() due to (2). list[int] is passed due to (4), but caused error due to (3).

In other uses of registry() (1-argument decorator factory and decorator with annotations) typing.List[int] is not passed due to 1. list[int] is passed due to (1) and caused error due to (3).

The proposed PR makes list[int] be treated the same way as typing.List[int]. It also makes 2-argument registry() rejecting invalid first argument, so all three forms of registry() accept and reject now the same types.