VMobject has a lot of methods+attributes, decrease the number?

[kolibril13]

At the moment, VMobject has 319 methods+attributes.
Most of them are quite useful, but what do you think about getting rid of some of them?

from manim import *
x = VMobject()
attrs_with_value = {attr: getattr(x, attr) for attr in dir(x)}
my_attrs = list(attrs_with_value.keys())
for i, obj in enumerate(my_attrs):
    print(i, obj)

0 Match_y (the capital letter is fixed in a current pr of mine)
1 abstractmethods
2 add
3 class
4 deepcopy
5 delattr
6 dict
7 dir
8 doc
9 eq
10 format
11 ge
12 getattr
13 getattribute
14 getitem
15 gt
16 hash
17 iadd
18 init
19 init_subclass
20 isub
21 iter
22 le
23 len
24 lt
25 module
26 ne
27 new
28 reduce
29 reduce_ex
30 repr
31 setattr
32 sizeof
33 slots
34 str
35 sub
36 subclasshook
37 weakref
38 _abc_impl
39 _gen_subpaths_from_points
40 add
41 add_background_rectangle
42 add_background_rectangle_to_family_members_with_points
43 add_background_rectangle_to_submobjects
44 add_cubic_bezier_curve
45 add_cubic_bezier_curve_to
46 add_line_to
47 add_n_more_submobjects
48 add_points_as_corners
49 add_quadratic_bezier_curve_to
50 add_smooth_curve_to
51 add_subpath
52 add_to_back
53 add_updater
54 align_data
55 align_on_border
56 align_points
57 align_points_with_larger
58 align_rgbas
59 align_submobjects
60 align_to
61 animate
62 append_points
63 append_vectorized_mobject
64 apply_complex_function
65 apply_function
66 apply_function_to_position
67 apply_function_to_submobject_positions
68 apply_matrix
69 apply_over_attr_arrays
70 apply_points_function
71 apply_points_function_about_point
72 apply_to_family
73 arrange
74 arrange_in_grid
75 arrange_submobjects
76 background_image_file
77 background_stroke_color
78 background_stroke_opacity
79 background_stroke_rgbas
80 background_stroke_width
81 become
82 center
83 change_anchor_mode
84 clear_points
85 clear_updaters
86 close_new_points
87 color
88 color_using_background_image
89 compute_bounding_box
90 consider_points_equals
91 consider_points_equals_2d
92 copy
93 data
94 depth
95 depth_test
96 dim
97 fade
98 fade_to
99 family
100 family_members_with_points
101 fill_color
102 fill_opacity
103 fill_rgbas
104 flip
105 force_direction
106 gen_cubic_bezier_tuples_from_points
107 gen_subpaths_from_points_2d
108 generate_points
109 generate_rgbas_array
110 generate_target
111 get_all_points
112 get_anchors
113 get_anchors_and_handles
114 get_arc_length
115 get_array_attrs
116 get_background_image_file
117 get_bottom
118 get_boundary_point
119 get_bounding_box
120 get_center
121 get_center_of_mass
122 get_color
123 get_coord
124 get_corner
125 get_critical_point
126 get_cubic_bezier_tuples
127 get_cubic_bezier_tuples_from_points
128 get_curve_functions
129 get_curve_functions_with_lengths
130 get_direction
131 get_edge_center
132 get_end
133 get_end_anchors
134 get_extremum_along_dim
135 get_family
136 get_family_updaters
137 get_fill_color
138 get_fill_colors
139 get_fill_opacities
140 get_fill_opacity
141 get_fill_rgbas
142 get_gradient_start_and_end_points
143 get_group_class
144 get_image
145 get_last_point
146 get_left
147 get_merged_array
148 get_nadir
149 get_nth_curve_function
150 get_nth_curve_function_with_length
151 get_nth_curve_points
152 get_num_curves
153 get_num_points
154 get_pieces
155 get_point_mobject
156 get_points
157 get_points_defining_boundary
158 get_right
159 get_sheen_direction
160 get_sheen_factor
161 get_start
162 get_start_anchors
163 get_start_and_end
164 get_stroke_color
165 get_stroke_colors
166 get_stroke_opacities
167 get_stroke_opacity
168 get_stroke_rgbas
169 get_stroke_width
170 get_style
171 get_subcurve
172 get_subpaths
173 get_subpaths_from_points
174 get_time_based_updaters
175 get_top
176 get_updaters
177 get_x
178 get_y
179 get_z
180 get_z_index_reference_point
181 get_zenith
182 gloss
183 has_new_path_started
184 has_no_points
185 has_points
186 has_time_based_updater
187 height
188 init_colors
189 init_gl_colors
190 init_gl_data
191 init_gl_points
192 insert_n_curves
193 insert_n_curves_to_point_list
194 interpolate
195 interpolate_color
196 invert
197 is_closed
198 is_fixed_in_frame
199 is_off_screen
200 length_over_dim
201 make_jagged
202 make_smooth
203 make_smooth_after_applying_functions
204 match_background_image_file
205 match_color
206 match_coord
207 match_depth
208 match_dim_size
209 match_height
210 match_style
211 match_updaters
212 match_width
213 match_x
214 match_z
215 move_to
216 n_points_per_cubic_curve
217 name
218 needs_new_bounding_box
219 next_to
220 nonempty_submobjects
221 null_point_align
222 parents
223 point_from_proportion
224 point_hash
225 points
226 pointwise_become_partial
227 pose_at_angle
228 pre_function_handle_to_anchor_scale_factor
229 push_self_into_submobjects
230 put_start_and_end_on
231 reduce_across_dimension
232 refresh_bounding_box
233 remove
234 remove_updater
235 repeat
236 repeat_submobject
237 replace
238 rescale_to_fit
239 reset_points
240 restore
241 resume_updating
242 reverse_direction
243 reverse_points
244 rotate
245 rotate_about_origin
246 rotate_in_place
247 save_image
248 save_state
249 scale
250 scale_about_point
251 scale_handle_to_anchor_distances
252 scale_in_place
253 scale_to_fit_depth
254 scale_to_fit_height
255 scale_to_fit_width
256 set
257 set_anchors_and_handles
258 set_background_stroke
259 set_color
260 set_color_by_gradient
261 set_colors_by_radial_gradient
262 set_coord
263 set_fill
264 set_opacity
265 set_points
266 set_points_as_corners
267 set_points_smoothly
268 set_shade_in_3d
269 set_sheen
270 set_sheen_direction
271 set_stroke
272 set_style
273 set_submobject_colors_by_gradient
274 set_submobject_colors_by_radial_gradient
275 set_x
276 set_y
277 set_z
278 set_z_index
279 set_z_index_by_z_coordinate
280 shade_in_3d
281 shadow
282 sheen_direction
283 sheen_factor
284 shift
285 shift_onto_screen
286 show
287 shuffle
288 shuffle_submobjects
289 sort
290 sort_submobjects
291 space_out_submobjects
292 split
293 start_new_path
294 stretch
295 stretch_about_point
296 stretch_in_place
297 stretch_to_fit_depth
298 stretch_to_fit_height
299 stretch_to_fit_width
300 stroke_color
301 stroke_opacity
302 stroke_rgbas
303 stroke_width
304 submobjects
305 surround
306 suspend_updating
307 target
308 throw_error_if_no_points
309 to_corner
310 to_edge
311 to_original_color
312 tolerance_for_point_equality
313 update
314 update_rgbas_array
315 updaters
316 updating_suspended
317 wag
318 width
319 z_index

[huguesdevimeux]

I strongly agree with this.

Given that the vast majority of the methods that handle bezier curve logic only use one attribute of VMobject (points), it would make sense to move them elsewhere, by either creating a class BezierCurvesHandler (not sure about the name) and/or simply using "static" functions.

[AntonBallmaier]

Also we could make the helper methods "private". That way they also don't get added to the docs.
...btw, this way it is easier to enumerate attributes 🙃

for i, attr in enumerate(dir(VMobject())):
    print(i, attr)

[friedkeenan]

There's an issue here that both of your code snippets are picking up methods from Mobject (and methods that aren't explicitly defined, and just normal attributes), but yes, VMobject still has a lot of methods.

As for making methods not appear in the docs, I'm not a total fan of that. First of all it's still useful for developers to have things in the docs only intentionally meant for them, but also I feel like going out of the way to make methods private might end with making methods that are useful for internals private even though they could still be useful for users/it's not bad for users to be using them. Making stuff private should be done sparingly imo

[kolibril13]

There was also recently the idea to have two documentations:
A) user-docs. B) dev-docs

[AntonBallmaier]

...dev-docs including all pages and private methods?

[kolibril13]

Yes.
And user docs only methods that are in the user interface.

[behackl]

I don't think it would be very practical to have yet another source of Information. Developers can read the docstrings of private methods anyways, I don't see a real benefit in having that rendered somewhere.

[kolibril13]

okay, good point!