Extract lines from file, add to new files

[Mats Wichmann]

On 2/3/24 10:58, Thomas Passin via Python-list wrote:
> In my view this whole thread became murky and complicated because the OP 
> did not write down the requirements for the program.  Requirements are 
> needed to communicate with other people.  An individual may not need to 
> actually write down the requirements - depending on their complexity - 
> but they always exist even if only vaguely in a person's mind.  The 
> requirements may include what tools or languages the person wants to use 
> and why.
> 
> If you are asking for help, you need to communicate the requirements to 
> the people you are asking for help from.
> 
> The OP may have thought the original post(s) contained enough of the 
> requirements but as we know by now, they didn't.
> 
> The person asking for help may not realize they don't know enough to 
> write down all the requirements; an effort to do so may bring that lack 
> to visibility.
> 
> Mailing lists like these have a drawback that it's hard to impossible 
> for someone not involved in a thread to learn anything general from it. 
> We can write over and over again to please state clearly what you want 
> to do and where the sticking points are, but newcomers post new 
> questions without ever reading these pleas.  Then good-hearted people 
> who want to be helpful end up spending a lot of time trying to guess 
> what is actually being asked for, and maybe never find out with enough 
> clarity.  Others take a guess and then spend time working up a solution 
> that may or may not be on target.
> 
> So please! before posting a request for help, write down the 
> requirements as best you can figure them out, and then make sure that 
> they are expressed such that the readers can understand.

Indeed.  I've occasionally practised the following technique (in some 
form) over the years without knowing it had grown a name, and wikipedia 
page to go with it.  It may be handy to use to help come up with a 
clearer explanation before sending off a post to a mailing list or other 
static medium, because of the inevitable delays in going back and forth. 
Interactive formus like the Python Discord have a bit of an advantage in 
that you can try to tease out the intent more quickly.  But as you 
say... a newcomer won't know this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging