python: how to get information about a function?

You can use pydoc.

Open your terminal and type python -m pydoc list.append

The advantage of pydoc over help() is that you do not have to import a module to look at its help text. For instance python -m pydoc random.randint.

Also you can start an HTTP server to interactively browse documentation by typing python -m pydoc -b (python 3)

For more information python -m pydoc

Try

help(my_list)

to get built-in help messages.

In python: help(my_list.append) for example, will give you the docstring of the function.

>>> my_list = []
>>> help(my_list.append)

    Help on built-in function append:

    append(...)
        L.append(object) -- append object to end