Python Tutorial: double single quotes?

[Jonadab the Unsightly One]

quinn at ngwee.ugcs.caltech.edu (Quinn Dunkan) wrote:

> Well, in case you're curious as to the "why", it's probably because the python
> docs are written in TeX, which uses ``'' to generate smart quotes.  

Those aren't "Smart Quotes".  (Smart Quotes(TM) are also Evil, but
they're different.)  But anyway the fact that it comes from TeX
explains why I recently discovered that the Perl/Tk documentation 
has the same problem.

> In perl... on a python newsgroup, no less :)  

Yes, well, I know Perl (well, enough to do that; still
learning Tk and Net::NNTP...), and I'm still learning 
Python.  If I didn't know Perl I'd have done it in elisp.  
And if I didn't know that either I'd have done it in 
QBasic. And if I didn't have that either I'd have done 
it in Inform and faked the file I/O by redirecting with 
DumbFrotz.  Failing that, I might have tried to do
it in C, but that would have been cumbersome and
difficult.

> Just to show you how much
> shorter and clearer python can be, 

It looks shorter, but not clearer.  (Maybe because I
don't know Python very well yet.  I read the tutorial,
but it leaves me knowing very little of the language.
On to the library reference, I guess...)

> here's my version (with some functionality removed 
> that belongs in the shell anyway):

[Mumbles something about needing more drive space 
to install cygwin so he can compile bash...]

- jonadab