Why do Pythoneers reinvent the wheel?

[Fuzzyman]

Michael Amrhein wrote:
> Stefano Masini schrieb:
> > On 8 Sep 2005 08:24:50 -0700, Fuzzyman <fuzzyman at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >>What is pythonutils ?
> >>=====================
> >>ConfigObj - simple config file handling
> >>validate - validation and type conversion system
> >>listquote - string to list conversion
> >>StandOut - simple logging and output control object
> >>pathutils - for working with paths and files
> >>cgiutils - cgi helpers
> >>urlpath - functions for handling URLs
> >>odict - Ordered Dictionary Class
> >
> >
> > Fuzzyman, your post reminded me of something I can't stop thinking
> > about. Please don't take this as a critique on your work. I place
> > myself on the same side of yours.
> > I just wanted to share this thought with everybody had an opinion about it.
> >
> > I wonder how many people (including myself) have implemented their own
> > versions of such modules, at least once in their pythonic life. I
> > indeed have my own odict (even same name! :). My own pathutils
> > (different name, but same stuff). My own validate... and so forth.
> >
> > This is just too bad.
> > There are a few ares where everybody seems to be implementing their
> > own stuff over and over: logging, file handling, ordered dictionaries,
> > data serialization, and maybe a few more.
> > I don't know what's the ultimate problem, but I think there are 3 main reasons:
> > 1) poor communication inside the community (mhm... arguable)
> > 2) lack of a rich standard library (I heard this more than once)
> > 3) python is such an easy language that the "I'll do it myself" evil
> > side lying hidden inside each one of us comes up a little too often,
> > and prevents from spending more time on research of what's available.
> > [snip..]
> Did you take a look at pyPI (http://www.python.org/pypi) ?
> At least you'd find another odict ...

Oh right. Where ?

I remember when I started coding in Python (about two years ago) in one
of my first projects I ended up re-implementing some stuff that is in
the standard library. The standard library is *fairly* big - but the
'Python blessed' modules idea sounds good.

I've often had the problem of having to assess multiple third party
libraries/frameworks and decide which of several alternatives is going
to be best for me - without really having the information on which to
base a decision (and nor the time to try them all out). Web templating
and web application frameworks are particularly difficult in this area.

If a module is in the standard library then *most* developers will
*first* use that - and only if it's not suitable look for something
else.

All the best,

Fuzzyman
http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python

> ;-) Michael