Doc strings for a standalone app??

[Rick L. Ratzel]

The only perceived disadvantages that I'm aware of occur when you don't 
use the -OO flag.  Docstrings end up in frozen executables and .pyc 
files, visible through the use of the "strings" command (which is a 
problem for people who think the information is hidden from the binary 
file like a comment).  The binary files are also ever so slightly larger 
when docstrings are used instead of comments.  However, using -OO 
removes docstrings in addition to applying optimizations...the frozen 
executable or resulting .pyo files have no docstrings and are a bit smaller.

-Rick Ratzel

Peter Hansen wrote:
> j_mckitrick wrote:
> 
>> Does it make sense to use doc strings rather than #-comments for a
>> standalone Python app?  If the classes aren't going to be re-used or
>> imported, do they need them?
> 
> 
> The only thing I can think of to ask about that is "Why
> would you *not* want to use doc strings?".  There is
> no significant overhead associated with them, so you
> don't really lose.  They have potential advantages, given
> that the docs are available at runtime, more clearly
> identifiable as documentation, etc, whereas the other
> form of comments have no advantages for this kind of
> thing.  So why not use them?
> 
> -Peter