def getParameter(self, name, index):
    """Default implementation that return an attribute with the requested name.

    This method provides a default implementation of
    :meth:`~nupic.bindings.regions.PyRegion.PyRegion.getParameter` that
    simply returns an attribute with the parameter name. If the Region
    conceptually contains multiple nodes with separate state, the ``index``
    argument is used to request a parameter of a specific node inside the
    region. In case of a region-level parameter the index should be ``-1``.

    The implementation prevents accessing parameters names that start with
    ``_``. It may be better to enforce this convention at the node spec level.

    :param name: (string) name of requested parameter
    :param index: (int) index of node inside the region (if relevant)

    """
    if name.startswith('_'):
      raise Exception('Parameter name must not start with an underscore')

    value = getattr(self, name)
    return value