python 3 and Unicode line breaking

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:06:15 -0800, leoboiko wrote:

> Of course I searched for one and couldn’t find; that goes without
> saying.  Otherwise I wouldn’t even bother writing a message, isn’t it? 

You wouldn't say that if you had the slightest idea about how many people 
write to newsgroups and web forums asking for help without making the 
tiniest effort to solve the problem themselves. So, no, it *doesn't* go 
without saying -- unless, of course, you want the answer to also go 
without saying.


> I disagree people should cruft their messages with details about how
> they failed to find information, as that is unrelated to the question at
> hand and has no point other than polluting people’s mailboxes.

This is total nonsense -- how on earth can you say that it is unrelated 
to the question you are asking? It tells others what they should not 
waste their time trying, because you've already tried it. You don't need 
to write detailed step-by-step instructions of everything you've tried, 
but you can point us in the directions you've already traveled.

Think of it this way... if you were paying money for professional advice, 
would you be happy to receive a bill for time spent doing the exact same 
things you have already tried? I'm sure you wouldn't be. So why do you 
think it is okay to waste the time of unpaid volunteers? That's just 
thoughtless and selfish.

If you think so little of other people's time that you won't even write a 
few words to save them from going down the same dead-ends that you've 
already tried, then don't be surprised if they think so little of your 
time that they don't bother replying even when they know the answer.

> I also see no reason to reply to a simple question with such
> discourtesy, and cannot understand why someone would be so aggressive to
> a stranger.

If you think my reply was aggressive and discourteous, you've got a lot 
to learn about public forums.


-- 
Steven