Protected member accessed from outside the class PYL-W0212
Bug risk
Minor
a month ago
—
3 years old
Access to a protected member _time of a client class
307 time = time.time # type: ignore[union-attr] # mypy doesn't filter correctly
308 if isinstance(time, Time):
309 time_ref = time_ref if time_ref is not None else time._time_ref
310 time = time._time311 if isinstance(time, _data_base_types):
312 pass
313 elif isinstance(time, pint.Quantity):Access to a protected member _time_ref of a client class
306 if issubclass(type(time), TimeDependent):
307 time = time.time # type: ignore[union-attr] # mypy doesn't filter correctly
308 if isinstance(time, Time):
309 time_ref = time_ref if time_ref is not None else time._time_ref310 time = time._time
311 if isinstance(time, _data_base_types):
312 pass
Description
Accessing a protected member (a member prefixed with _) of a class from outside that class is not recommended, since the creator of that class did not intend this member to be exposed. If accesing this attribute outside of the class is absolutely needed, refactor it such that it becomes part of the public interface of the class.
Bad practice
class Rectangle(object):
def __init__(self, height, width):
self._height = height
self._width = width
r = Rectangle(4, 8)
area = r._height * r._width
Preferred:
class Rectangle(object):
def __init__(self, height, width):
self._height = height
self._width = width
def area():
return self._height * self._width
r = Rectangle(4, 8)
area = r.area()