Python stagnating?

[Chris]

1) My experience with the PHP docs is that the user comments are, by and 
large, quite useful. You always have the option not to view them by viewing 
one of the standard HTML versions similar to the Python docs. Wikis are 
cool (I use the emacs wiki occasionally), but I would prefer manual pages 
linked to a wiki rather than the other way. Still, it is quite common for 
the user comments, which generally explain how to do X or a more efficient 
way to do Y, to answer a question more readily than the docs!

2) The navigation withing the PHP docs is better because you can get at 
more from one page-- if I am looking at one file function, for instance, 
all the rest of the file functions are immediately available. Rather than 
up/up/find and link/back up/etc.

3) The URL trick is a nice little move that makes for an easy shortcut to 
search. 

4) PDF docs are not everyone's cup of tea, but they are nice as a reference 
and a smart system generates all of these things from the same source 
automatically anyway, so why not offer more than just what you or I like?

In all honesty, #2 is the most important for me, particularly as a 
beginner. The Linuxdoc/LaTeX2HTML style is great when there is nothing 
better available, but the "many many files, all of which have no links 
other than left/right/up" method is not the most productive for many 
applications.

Anyway, all this conversation makes it sound much more important than it 
really is. I'll be buying a couple of books and using a few online 
tutorials anyway. The most important point is that Python development is 
not stagnating, my perspective was just skewed from a few broken links and 
references to software (bobo, anyone?) that appears to no longer exist and 
obsolete resources.

Tough crowd here :)