saved sys.path

[Scott David Daniels]

Eric S. Johansson wrote:
> Alex Martelli wrote:
> 
>> The modifications to sys.path performed by .pth files are visible to all
>> applications.  A single application may (however it chooses to do so)
>> find out or determine a path it wants only for its own imports, and
> ...historical record deleted
>>  Python is not particularly different, from the point of view of "where
 >> does an app find its own configuration information", from most other
>> languages.
> 
> from historical perspective, I understand and appreciate your 
> explanation.  However, just because it's historically accurate, does it 
> mean we should keep doing things the same old way?
> 

There is a danger to watch out for here.  A great Python success is that
it works in and on the local OS.  I have always felt that languages as
otherwise successful as APL and Smalltalk have failed by defining their
own conventions (for file storage and such), rather than respecting the
local conventions.

Python attempts the local dance, and it is locality, not history, that
affects the details of the dance.  Mac people (for example) won't care
about the "Python convention" initially and might reject Python because
"it doesn't put information in the right place."  There is a line here
to be careful about.  History is not an arrow, but an exploration of
possibilities.

I mention this not as a "killer rebuttal," but as a "there be dragons here."

-Scott David Daniels
Scott.Daniels at Acm.Org