replace operators with low level functions While it is extremely easy to find operator calls (by inspecting the user interface and the info window), I have big difficulties to actually find the low level alternative functions which I can (or should) use in my scripts instead of the operators.

One recent example was:


operator call: bpy.ops.anim.keyframe_insert_menu()
RNA method call: obj.keyframe_insert("location",frame=frame)


Finding the operator was a matter of less than a minute. The low level function came to me as a comment about improving my code example.

So I wonder where I could find answers to questions of the type:


  "what function(s) can I use to replace this operator... ?"


For me the blender API is not helpful for answering this type of question and google only helped me in few cases.

Of course I could post a question here every time I want to know more about a specific operator. But maybe there is a better alternative (document, gotcha, tip, tutorial...) that I overlook?
Attempt to create a collection of information resources:

From API documents


Inspect the inherited Functions Section at the page bottom.


From within the Python Console


Inspect bpy.data...
Inspect bpy.types... 


List of useful reference documents


Reference API Quickstart (Blender 2.71 API)
Reference API usage (Blender 2.71 API)