I considered linking tohttps://docs.python.org/3/reference/datamodel.html#object.__or__, but the data model only discusses implementing__or__ in the context of emulating numeric types, and that's pretty distinct to the purpose oftype.__or__

It can refer toio.BaseIO.

I'm not sure there's anything we could specifically link to for either method.io.IOBase does not haveread() orwrite() as abstract methods, so neitherIOBase.read norIOBase.write is explicitly documented currently.

https://docs.python.org/3/library/io.html#io.IOBase

Here's all theIOBase docs say onread andwrite:

Even thoughIOBase does not declare read() or write() because their signatures will vary, implementations and clients should consider those methods part of the interface. Also, implementations may raise aValueError (orUnsupportedOperation) when operations they do not support are called.

Specific subclasses ofIOBase implement versions ofread andwrite that either only work with raw binary streams or only work with text streams

Well, and there is a reason to not declare them there. But there are many other references toread andwrite. It would be nice to have the general interface of them be documented somewhere. It is a different issue.

Well, and there is a reason to not declare them there. But there are many other references toread andwrite. It would be nice to have the general interface of them be documented somewhere. It is a different issue.