title: Documenting with Sphinx python methods that do have default parameters with sentinel objects?
body: <p>If you want to be able to allow people to call some methods using <code>None</code> you have to do use a <a href="http://effbot.org/zone/default-values.htm" rel="nofollow">sentinel object</a> when you define the method. </p>
  
  <pre><code> _sentinel = object()
   def foo(param1=_sentinel):
       ...
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This would allow you to call <code>foo(param1=None)</code> and be able to make the difference between a call like <code>foo()</code>.</p>
  
  <p>The problem is that when Sphinx does document the method it will write something like</p>
  
  <pre><code>mymodule.foo(param1=&lt;object object at 0x108c1a520&gt;)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>How can I convince Sphinx to have a user friendly output for these functions?</p>
  
  <p>Note, Imagine how the documentations look if you have 3-4 parameters using the sentinel approach.</p>