Thoughts on some stdlib modules

[Terry Reedy]

"vegetax" <vegeta.z at gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:d35hul$o4p$1 at sea.gmane.org...
> And those thoughts comes to mind again, if python is such a great 
> language
> why does the stdlib is so bloated with duplication,bad bad library
> design,clumsy to use modules,etc.

Some general responses:
1. The Python lib was not 'designed'.  It has grown over 15 years by 
contributions from numerous authors around the world.
2. Backwards compatibility is a near absolute constraint.  The major 
exception is code dependent on bugs.
3. Enhancing the lib, within that constraint, is a major focus of current 
development work.  (Fixing bugs is another, but that is constant.)  But 
many patches languish because there are not enough volunteers to review 
them.
4. I believe acceptance of new modules is tougher now than some years ago.
5. More help is needed to improve the lib.  Are you volunteering?

>Is it because of legacy code and backwards compatibility or
> because not too much people in the python-dev cares about library design?

I hope I answered that for you.

> Are those issues being considered right now? i cant find any PEP 
> addressing
> the issue especifically, at least cooking it for python 3000.
>
> specific topics could be:
>
> grouping related modules.

I would like this and others have said the same.  Not sure what Guido 
thinks.

> removing useless legacy modules.

like gopherlib?  But how do we know that none of the 100000s of Python 
programmers use it?  Any effort to find out is more effort than leaving it 
alone.  And if the number is greater than 0, how many are you willing to 
disappoint and say 'Tough' to?

> refactoring duplicated functionality.
> removing/redesigning poorly written modules.

Patches welcome within the compatibility constraint.

> adding a module versioning system.

Modules that began and continue as independent projects may have such 
already.  Otherwise, they get the CPython version number.  Or did you mean 
something else?

There are Python 3 topics in the Python wiki that you could add to.  Or go 
ahead and write a PEP,

Terry J. Reedy