Why python docstring is interpreted differently from comment

Question

Let\'s say, I\'ve got a function like this:

def myFunc():
    # useful function to calculate stuff

This will produce an indentation error, unle

Answer 1

A docstring isn't just a comment. It actually has meaning to the interpreter. In the case with a docstring, you could do myFunc.__doc__ and actually get your docstring back (In the other case with a pass, the result myFunc.__doc__ would be None).

In other words, you are actually adding some code to the function body to modify it's behavior (in some circumstances), so no pass is necessary.