[PYTHON META-SIG] proposal for PATTERN-SIG mission statement

[Dinu Gherman]

Barry wrote:
> Dinu, I read your mission statement and I think it's a good first
> shot.  However, I think you can both trim it down and state clearly
> what it is you hope to accomplish with the SIG. [...]

Barry, you're completely right of course! I thought of the
first draft as too much of a thing to be used also for
non-Pythoneers. I still think this is not superfluous, but
indeed it's not appropriate as the *list's* mission
statement. Sorry.

> If you're just looking for a convenient forum for discussion patterns
> in Python programming, I'd ask why you think the general newsgroup is
> not appropriate?  Do you think this area will generate that much
> traffic?  Do you think the results are of limited interest to the
> Python community at large?

Well, PATTERN-SIG should not only be a discussion forum.
Ideally it would be a virtual place to collect and refine
code and design experience / knowledge and provide it to all
those interested. I think the BSCW tool is very appropriate
as a means to that end and I'd like to invite anybody
interested to play a little with a demo I've installed on my
machine. Just send me a mail. I have not succeeded yet in
making it work for anonymous users.

Then, yes, I think this SIG could be quite useful to all
those on c.l.p, but also, yes, I do have the impression that
the newsgroup is to heavy already and would certainly benefit
from a modest split into something like
comp.lang.python.{announce, advocacy, language, programmer,
software}, but that's a different story, of course. First I
thought of posting PATTERN-SIG reports on c.l.p, but I don't
really think anymore that would work.

Summing up, I think the mailing list is just what we need to
focus on our topic and a virtual repository for collecting
and developing the stuff we're concerned about is the other.
In the end we might need something simpler like plain web
pages to present the collected material, but I think this is
not in sight on ultra-short term. In the beginning BSCW with
anonymous users added will do.

> What would make me more enthusiastic about the SIG (I'm already
> enthusiastic about the subject matter!) would be to see a list of what
> you want to produce.  E.g. "The PatternSIG will collect and collate
> common programming patterns, idioms, and tricks 'o the trade, of
> general use to the Python community.  Its mission is to produce a set
> of well-indexed Web pages that Python programmers can use as reference
> material for their own projects."

That's exactly where I'd like to see us moving to. ;-) Ok.
I'll write it up more concisely and re-submit it to this
list, soon.

Thanks for the comments!

Dinu

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