pychecker proposal

[Anton Vredegoor]

nicksjacobson at yahoo.com (Nick Jacobson) wrote:

>I think that PyChecker should be part of the "batteries included"
>library that comes with Python.  It can be a very useful tool for
>catching errors and bad style.

Here are a few thoughts on this.

a) How often will it be used by how many people?

While I acknowledge PyCheckers usefulness, I tend not to use it very
often. Maybe I should use it more, or maybe Pythons executable pseudo
code quality forces PyChecker to fall in the "below 1% of use cases"
category.

b) Is it actively supported by people that are willing to release it
synchronously with Pythons updates?

c) Is its license compatible with Python?

d) Are there other packages that should be included which have more
urgency or that would be a better tradeoff for adding to the space
that a Python standard distribution takes?

Pychecker is not a very big package, which would be an argument in
favor of including it. 

OTOH, some time ago I was at an Apple Itunes demonstration. I was
happy to immediately start a Python shell on a mac, but I also noticed
the conspicuous absence of an impressive Python demo. 

It would be a really good idea to include a (PyGame) demo like
solarwolf in the standard distribution. Not because it would be used
very often but because it would add substantially to the "out of the
box experience" which is crucial for acquiring new customers.

IMO this alone would outweigh even the disadvantage of adding a few
megabytes to Pythons standard distribution and the disadvantage of
making it look less "serious" by associating it with games.

e) Anything not mentioned above:-)

Anton