diff --git a/IPython/utils/tests/test_traitlets.py b/IPython/utils/tests/test_traitlets.py
index f2823b2..f9de690 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/tests/test_traitlets.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/tests/test_traitlets.py
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ class HasTraitletsStub(object):
         self._traitlet_values = {}
         self._traitlet_notifiers = {}
 
-    def _notify(self, name, old, new):
+    def _notify_traitlet(self, name, old, new):
         self._notify_name = name
         self._notify_old = old
         self._notify_new = new
@@ -321,6 +321,15 @@ class TestAddTraitlet(TestCase):
         self.assertEquals(a.b,10.0)
         self.assertRaises(TraitletError, setattr, a, 'b', 'bad value')
 
+class TestTraitletKeys(TestCase):
+
+    def test_keys(self):
+        class A(HasTraitlets):
+            a = Int
+            b = Float
+        a = A()
+        self.assertEquals(a.traitlet_keys(),['a','b'])
+
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Tests for specific traitlet types
diff --git a/IPython/utils/traitlets.py b/IPython/utils/traitlets.py
index 4274bb2..07c2929 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/traitlets.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/traitlets.py
@@ -16,9 +16,15 @@ We don't support:
 
 * Delegation
 * Automatic GUI generation
-* A full set of trait types
+* A full set of trait types.  Most importantly, we don't provide container
+  traitlets (list, dict, tuple) that can trigger notifications if their
+  contents change.
 * API compatibility with enthought.traits
 
+There are also some important difference in our design:
+
+* enthought.traits does not validate default values.  We do.
+
 We choose to create this module because we need these capabilities, but
 we need them to be pure Python so they work in all Python implementations,
 including Jython and IronPython.
@@ -184,7 +190,7 @@ class TraitletType(object):
             old_value = self.__get__(obj)
             if old_value != new_value:
                 obj._traitlet_values[self.name] = new_value
-                obj._notify(self.name, old_value, new_value)
+                obj._notify_traitlet(self.name, old_value, new_value)
         else:
             obj._traitlet_values[self.name] = new_value
 
@@ -248,7 +254,7 @@ class HasTraitlets(object):
         self._traitlet_values = {}
         self._traitlet_notifiers = {}
 
-    def _notify(self, name, old_value, new_value):
+    def _notify_traitlet(self, name, old_value, new_value):
 
         # First dynamic ones
         callables = self._traitlet_notifiers.get(name,[])
@@ -368,6 +374,10 @@ class HasTraitlets(object):
         inst.name = name
         setattr(self.__class__, name, inst)
 
+    def traitlet_keys(self):
+        """Get a list of all the names of this classes traitlets."""
+        return [memb[0] for memb in inspect.getmembers(self.__class__) if isinstance(memb[1], TraitletType)]
+
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Actual TraitletTypes implementations/subclasses