Python Documentation (should be better?)

[Robert Kern]

Ivan Van Laningham wrote:

> http://www.python.org/doc/
> 
> Type string methods into the box; push submit.  Result:
> 
> "Results 1 - 20 of about 9,800 from www.python.org for string methods.
> (0.14 seconds)"
> 
> I did not go to docs.python.org, I went to www.python.org and clicked on
> the doc link.  There is a difference, clearly, but I maintain there
> should not be.  If I click on "Documentation" on the main page, am I
> asking for "All possible old and new and broken and repaired and
> intermediate documentation pages"?  No, I kind of thought I was asking
> for the latest documentation.
 >
> I tried string methods at docs.python.org, and got "Results 1 - 20 of
> about 455 from docs.python.org for string methods. (0.11 seconds)";
> "string methods" retrieved "Results 1 - 10 of about 30 from
> docs.python.org for "string methods". (0.13 seconds)".  Why the
> difference?

Searching on docs.python.org goes through just the stuff that's on 
docs.python.org, which is pretty much just documentation. Google's magic 
points to the current documentation.

Searching on www.python.org trolls through the entire www.python.org 
site. The search box doesn't narrow its scope just because you happen to 
be in the Documentation section currently. It doesn't get the current 
documentation because Google's magic gets a bit confused.

-- 
Robert Kern
rkern at ucsd.edu

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
  Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
   -- Richard Harter