[Python-Dev] Breaking undocumented API

Alexander Belopolsky alexander.belopolsky at gmail.com
Thu Nov 11 14:51:32 CET 2010


On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 8:43 AM, Fred Drake <fdrake at acm.org> wrote:
..
> Since trace is documented and rx_blank isn't covered, I think it's
> pretty clear it was never intended as API.  I'd be fine with changing
> the visibility of rx_blank, and see no need to change its name.

While I obviously agree with your conclusion, your logic is not
perfect because trace documentation is *much* younger than the module.
 How would you apply your reasoning to trace.find_strings()?  It is
undocumented, its name is misleading, but it is used in the wild
according to google code search.  I draw the line somewhere between
trace.rx_blank and trace.find_strings.


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