What is "Introspection-based code completion"?

Question

I'm looking at various IDEs for python. Looking at the official list the IDEs are categorized based on 'introspection based code completion'.

What does introspection based code completion mean?

Thanks.

Answer 1

It means the IDE uses introspection to figure out what methods and variables are accessible from a given object, then allows quick code completion, usually by providing a list of options after you type a period following a symbol.

Answer 2

Here's an example if WingIDE Pro inaction. Forgive the hastily thrown together image.

You can see that arg1 is being shown as 1 in the first example, as well as the helper showing that it is probably an int.

In the second part, you can see that the IDE is looking through the docstrings for what the method get does, in the requests module.

The second image below shows that the IDE can 'auto-complete' code for you, including showing what it does.