[Python-Dev] Re: [Csv] csv module TODO list

[Andrew McNamara]

>    Andrew> There's a bunch of jobs we (CSV module maintainers) have been
>    Andrew> putting off - attached is a list (in no particular order):
>    ...
>
>In addition, it occurred to me this evening that there's functionality in
>the csv module I don't think anybody uses.  

It's very difficult to say for sure that nobody is using it once it's
released to the world.

>For example, you can register CSV dialects by name, then pass in the
>string name instead of the dialect class.  I'd be in favor of scrapping
>list_dialects, register_dialect and unregister_dialect altogether.  While
>they are probably trivial little functions I don't think they add much if
>anything to the implementation and just complicate the _csv extension
>module slightly.  

Yes, in hindsight, they're not really necessary, although I'm sure we
had some motivation for them initially. That said, they're there now,
and they shouldn't require much maintenance.

>I'm also not aware that anyone really uses the Sniffer class, though it
>does provide some useful functionality should you need to analyze random
>CSV files.

The comment I get repeatedly is that they don't use it because it's
"too magic/scary". That's as it should be. But if it didn't exist,
then someone would be requesting we add it... 8-)

-- 
Andrew McNamara, Senior Developer, Object Craft
http://www.object-craft.com.au/