A static typing library for Python. That may sound at first as if this module
was designed to simply decorate methods specifying the type of objects that
must be passed to them, and it can definitely do that. However, it's quite a
bit more powerful than that. It has a collection of constructs that allow
constructing type patterns, objects that allow a form of pattern matching
against Python objects. For example, And(Type(list), All(Type(int))) is a type
pattern that matches all objects that are instances of list and whose values
are all ints. All(Type(int)) would match any iterable object, not just a list,
whose values are ints, while Or(Not(Iterable()), All(Type(int))) would
additionally match objects that are not iterable, and Type(int) would simply
match objects of type int.
 
A short notation can be used to represent some of the type constructs. These
must be passed to the compile function to convert them to type patterns for
actual use. Any Python type is a type pattern matching objects of that type.
A list containing one item, a type pattern (short or otherwise), is a type
pattern matching objects that are iterable and whose values are all of that
type and a tuple containing one or more items is a type pattern that matches
any object that matches at least one of its contained types. In that way,
Python types are converted to instances of Type, lists are converted to
instances of All, and tuples are converted to instances of Or.
 
Type patterns have two methods, matches and check_matches. Both take a single
argument, the value to match against. matches returns true if the specified
value matches the type pattern on which the matches function was called.
check_matches calls matches and throws a StaticTypeError if it returned false.
 
Each of the type pattern constructs clearly defines what fields it creates,
which allows for metatyping: creating type patterns that match type patterns
themselves. Such a thing is used in JPath's query optimizer, where the
optimizer uses metatyping to determine if the type pattern that an optimizer
will be called for makes any definitive assertions as to what type of compiler
production it operates on, which allows the compiler to significantly decrease
the time it takes to look up the set of optimizations to be applied to a
particular compiler production.

Classes
		__builtin__.object StaticType All And Any Everything Field Is Iterable Not Or Positional Sequence Type exceptions.Exception(exceptions.BaseException) InternalError StaticTypeError TypeFormatError   class All(StaticType)     A static type that matches a value if that particular value is iterable and all of its values match the component type with which this All instance was created. The type is stored in a field named component_type.     Method resolution order: All StaticType __builtin__.object Methods defined here: __init__(self, component_type) __str__(self) matches(self, value) Methods inherited from StaticType: __repr__(self) check_matches(self, value) Calls matches(value). If the reslt is false, a StaticTypeError is raised. If the result is true, this method simply returns. Data descriptors inherited from StaticType: __dict__ dictionary for instance variables (if defined) __weakref__ list of weak references to the object (if defined)   class And(StaticType)     A static type that matches a value if all of its constructs match that particular value. The constructs are stored in a field named constructs.     Method resolution order: And StaticType __builtin__.object Methods defined here: __init__(self, *constructs) __str__(self) matches(self, value) Methods inherited from StaticType: __repr__(self) check_matches(self, value) Calls matches(value). If the reslt is false, a StaticTypeError is raised. If the result is true, this method simply returns. Data descriptors inherited from StaticType: __dict__ dictionary for instance variables (if defined) __weakref__ list of weak references to the object (if defined)   class Any(StaticType)     A static type that matches a value if that particular value is iterable and any of its values match the component type with which this All instance was created. The type is stored in a field named component_type.     Method resolution order: Any StaticType __builtin__.object Methods defined here: __init__(self, component_type) __str__(self) matches(self, value) Methods inherited from StaticType: __repr__(self) check_matches(self, value) Calls matches(value). If the reslt is false, a StaticTypeError is raised. If the result is true, this method simply returns. Data descriptors inherited from StaticType: __dict__ dictionary for instance variables (if defined) __weakref__ list of weak references to the object (if defined)   class Everything(StaticType)     A static type that matches all values.     Method resolution order: Everything StaticType __builtin__.object Methods defined here: __init__(self) __str__(self) matches(self, value) Methods inherited from StaticType: __repr__(self) check_matches(self, value) Calls matches(value). If the reslt is false, a StaticTypeError is raised. If the result is true, this method simply returns. Data descriptors inherited from StaticType: __dict__ dictionary for instance variables (if defined) __weakref__ list of weak references to the object (if defined)   class Field(StaticType)     A static type that matches a value if that particular value has all of the fields named when constructing this Field instance and they are all match the type specified when constructing this Field instance. The field type is stored in a field named field_type and the field names are stored in a field named field_names.     Method resolution order: Field StaticType __builtin__.object Methods defined here: __init__(self, field_type, *field_names) __str__(self) matches(self, value) Methods inherited from StaticType: __repr__(self) check_matches(self, value) Calls matches(value). If the reslt is false, a StaticTypeError is raised. If the result is true, this method simply returns. Data descriptors inherited from StaticType: __dict__ dictionary for instance variables (if defined) __weakref__ list of weak references to the object (if defined)   class InternalError(exceptions.Exception)     An exception thrown when an internal problem occurs with the static type library. This usually indicates a bug in this library.     Method resolution order: InternalError exceptions.Exception exceptions.BaseException __builtin__.object Data descriptors defined here: __weakref__ list of weak references to the object (if defined) Methods inherited from exceptions.Exception: __init__(...) x.__init__(...) initializes x; see help(type(x)) for signature Data and other attributes inherited from exceptions.Exception: __new__ = <built-in method __new__ of type object> T.__new__(S, ...) -> a new object with type S, a subtype of T Methods inherited from exceptions.BaseException: __delattr__(...) x.__delattr__('name') <==> del x.name __getattribute__(...) x.__getattribute__('name') <==> x.name __getitem__(...) x.__getitem__(y) <==> x[y] __getslice__(...) x.__getslice__(i, j) <==> x[i:j]   Use of negative indices is not supported. __reduce__(...) __repr__(...) x.__repr__() <==> repr(x) __setattr__(...) x.__setattr__('name', value) <==> x.name = value __setstate__(...) __str__(...) x.__str__() <==> str(x) __unicode__(...) Data descriptors inherited from exceptions.BaseException: __dict__ args message   class Is(StaticType)     A static type that matches a value if the value is equal, as determined by the == operator, to a specified value.     Method resolution order: Is StaticType __builtin__.object Methods defined here: __init__(self, value) matches(self, value) Methods inherited from StaticType: __repr__(self) __str__(self) check_matches(self, value) Calls matches(value). If the reslt is false, a StaticTypeError is raised. If the result is true, this method simply returns. Data descriptors inherited from StaticType: __dict__ dictionary for instance variables (if defined) __weakref__ list of weak references to the object (if defined)   class Iterable(StaticType)     A static type that matches a value if the value is iterable. A value is iterable if calling the Python function iter(value) does not raise a TypeError.     Method resolution order: Iterable StaticType __builtin__.object Methods defined here: __init__(self) __str__(self) matches(self, value) Methods inherited from StaticType: __repr__(self) check_matches(self, value) Calls matches(value). If the reslt is false, a StaticTypeError is raised. If the result is true, this method simply returns. Data descriptors inherited from StaticType: __dict__ dictionary for instance variables (if defined) __weakref__ list of weak references to the object (if defined)   class Not(StaticType)     A static type that matches a value if that particular value does not match the construct with which this Not instance was created. The construct is stored in a field named construct.     Method resolution order: Not StaticType __builtin__.object Methods defined here: __init__(self, construct) __str__(self) matches(self, value) Methods inherited from StaticType: __repr__(self) check_matches(self, value) Calls matches(value). If the reslt is false, a StaticTypeError is raised. If the result is true, this method simply returns. Data descriptors inherited from StaticType: __dict__ dictionary for instance variables (if defined) __weakref__ list of weak references to the object (if defined)   class Or(StaticType)     A static type that matches a value if any of its constructs match that particular value. The constructs are stored in a field named constructs.     Method resolution order: Or StaticType __builtin__.object Methods defined here: __init__(self, *constructs) __str__(self) matches(self, value) Methods inherited from StaticType: __repr__(self) check_matches(self, value) Calls matches(value). If the reslt is false, a StaticTypeError is raised. If the result is true, this method simply returns. Data descriptors inherited from StaticType: __dict__ dictionary for instance variables (if defined) __weakref__ list of weak references to the object (if defined)   class Positional(StaticType)     A static type that matches a value if the value is a sequence, it has exactly the same number of value as were passed to the Positional instance when it was created, and each item matches the corresponding static type passed to the Positional instance when it was created. For example, Positional(int, str, bool) would match a sequence of length 3 containing an integer, a string, and a boolean, at each respective position in the sequence.     Method resolution order: Positional StaticType __builtin__.object Methods defined here: __init__(self, *types) __str__(self) matches(self, value) Methods inherited from StaticType: __repr__(self) check_matches(self, value) Calls matches(value). If the reslt is false, a StaticTypeError is raised. If the result is true, this method simply returns. Data descriptors inherited from StaticType: __dict__ dictionary for instance variables (if defined) __weakref__ list of weak references to the object (if defined)   class Sequence(StaticType)     A static type that matches a value if the value is a sequence. A value is defined to be a sequence if calling len(value) does not raise a TypeError.     Method resolution order: Sequence StaticType __builtin__.object Methods defined here: __str__(self) matches(self, value) Methods inherited from StaticType: __repr__(self) check_matches(self, value) Calls matches(value). If the reslt is false, a StaticTypeError is raised. If the result is true, this method simply returns. Data descriptors inherited from StaticType: __dict__ dictionary for instance variables (if defined) __weakref__ list of weak references to the object (if defined)   class StaticType(__builtin__.object)     The class that all static types extend from. It has two useful methods: matches and check_matches.   StaticType cannot itself be instantiated; you can only construct instances of subclasses of StaticType.     Methods defined here: __repr__(self) __str__(self) check_matches(self, value) Calls matches(value). If the reslt is false, a StaticTypeError is raised. If the result is true, this method simply returns. matches(self, value) Checks to see if the specified object matches this static type. If it does, True will be returned, and False will be returned if it doesn't. Subclasses of StaticType must override this to perform the actual matching; StaticType's implementation throws an InternalError. Data descriptors defined here: __dict__ dictionary for instance variables (if defined) __weakref__ list of weak references to the object (if defined)   class StaticTypeError(exceptions.Exception)     An exception thrown when an object passed to check_matches does not match the specified static type.     Method resolution order: StaticTypeError exceptions.Exception exceptions.BaseException __builtin__.object Data descriptors defined here: __weakref__ list of weak references to the object (if defined) Methods inherited from exceptions.Exception: __init__(...) x.__init__(...) initializes x; see help(type(x)) for signature Data and other attributes inherited from exceptions.Exception: __new__ = <built-in method __new__ of type object> T.__new__(S, ...) -> a new object with type S, a subtype of T Methods inherited from exceptions.BaseException: __delattr__(...) x.__delattr__('name') <==> del x.name __getattribute__(...) x.__getattribute__('name') <==> x.name __getitem__(...) x.__getitem__(y) <==> x[y] __getslice__(...) x.__getslice__(i, j) <==> x[i:j]   Use of negative indices is not supported. __reduce__(...) __repr__(...) x.__repr__() <==> repr(x) __setattr__(...) x.__setattr__('name', value) <==> x.name = value __setstate__(...) __str__(...) x.__str__() <==> str(x) __unicode__(...) Data descriptors inherited from exceptions.BaseException: __dict__ args message   class Type(StaticType)     A static type that checks to make sure values are instances of a particular Python type as per Python's bult-in isinstance function.   The type is stored in a field named type.     Method resolution order: Type StaticType __builtin__.object Methods defined here: __init__(self, type) __str__(self) matches(self, value) Methods inherited from StaticType: __repr__(self) check_matches(self, value) Calls matches(value). If the reslt is false, a StaticTypeError is raised. If the result is true, this method simply returns. Data descriptors inherited from StaticType: __dict__ dictionary for instance variables (if defined) __weakref__ list of weak references to the object (if defined)   class TypeFormatError(exceptions.Exception)     An exception thrown when a static type is malformed. This could happen if, for example, the number 5 was passed to the compile function; 5 is obviously not a valid static type, so a TypeFormatError would be raised.     Method resolution order: TypeFormatError exceptions.Exception exceptions.BaseException __builtin__.object Data descriptors defined here: __weakref__ list of weak references to the object (if defined) Methods inherited from exceptions.Exception: __init__(...) x.__init__(...) initializes x; see help(type(x)) for signature Data and other attributes inherited from exceptions.Exception: __new__ = <built-in method __new__ of type object> T.__new__(S, ...) -> a new object with type S, a subtype of T Methods inherited from exceptions.BaseException: __delattr__(...) x.__delattr__('name') <==> del x.name __getattribute__(...) x.__getattribute__('name') <==> x.name __getitem__(...) x.__getitem__(y) <==> x[y] __getslice__(...) x.__getslice__(i, j) <==> x[i:j]   Use of negative indices is not supported. __reduce__(...) __repr__(...) x.__repr__() <==> repr(x) __setattr__(...) x.__setattr__('name', value) <==> x.name = value __setstate__(...) __str__(...) x.__str__() <==> str(x) __unicode__(...) Data descriptors inherited from exceptions.BaseException: __dict__ args message

Functions
		check_matches(value, type) Short for compile(type).check_matches(value). compile(short_type) Compiles the specified static type. This involves converting Python classes to instances of Type, tuples to instances of Or, and lists to instances of All. Instances of one of StaticType's subclasses are returned as-is, so this function doesn't need to be called on them.   This function is essentially analogous to Parcon and Pargen's promote functions. matches(value, type) Short for compile(type).matches(value).