The language vs. the environment

[Paul Boddie]

Skip Montanaro <skip at pobox.com> wrote in message news:<mailman.1015449438.31833.python-list at python.org>...
> 

This was a great posting from Skip, and if I were still doing DDJ
Python-URL! it would go right in there at the very top. (Hint to the
current Python-URL! writer!)

> If you're looking for something to munch on, here are some suggestions, not
> all of which require that you write code:
> 
>     * breathe some life into the catalog-sig:
>           http://www.python.org/sigs/catalog-sig/

We've got the Vaults and siphon has been around and yet failed to
maintain a high profile, as far as I've read on this list/group.
Interestingly, the CPAN issue just keeps coming up. Myself, I wrote a
script to query the Vaults, and I even have functionality for finding
dependencies, although with the "screen-scraping" techniques in use,
my code is possibly not that reliable. Nevertheless, I see a future
for "grass roots", really simple code in this area, and surely writing
that code would be *much* easier than writing a PEP about some banal
language change.

>     * find a Python bug without a proposed fix and write one (there are
>       currently between 250 and 300 open bug reports):
>           http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=5470&atid=105470

Although one might think that this requires a "Python internals skill
level" of at least 7 out of 10, there are probably porting issues that
could usefully be resolved by people with access to the right
hardware. (If Python runs on RISC OS, Amiga and Mac OS - hats off to
the RISC OS, Amiga and Mac OS maintainers, by the way - it really
should run on HP-UX 10.x!)

>     * document an undocumented module from the standard library:
>           http://www.python.org/doc/current/lib/undoc.html

Or even write a nice wrapper around some of that code - nntplib was my
first standard library experience, but it surely hasn't changed that
much since 1995.

>     * write a HOWTO (another of Andrew's little sideline projects!) about
>       your little niche of Python expertise:
>           http://py-howto.sourceforge.net/

Yes, even a HOWTO is much easier than a language change PEP - you
can...

  * Write about something you know very well, because you've tried it
    and it works.

  * Ignore rigorous criticism - just say "in my experience" and people
    will still be grateful for your contribution.

  * Get positive feedback, rather than a 200 message thread of mixed
    responses before you lose interest entirely or it's pointed out
    that your changes will never be accepted, or at least not before
    Python 4.1 (or, in some cases, before the Winter Olympics are
    staged in Hell).

Paul