Should I memorize the order of function arguments when learning a new module?

Question

For example, I am now learning wxPython, specifically a class' init function:

__init__(self, parent, id=-1, label=EmptyString, pos=DefaultPosition,
 size=DefaultSize, style=0, name=StaticTextNameStr) 

As a matter of good programming practice, should I memorize the order of the parameters, or just the keywords and call the function using the keywords everytime? Is it better to do the latter for readability?

Answer 1

Memorize? No. That's what the documentation (including source code) is there for.

That being said, sometimes using keyword arguments helps the code clarity, particularly for functions which take a large number of parameters. And you should always strive to write clear code, especially in Python where the source code is meant to supplement the documentation.