[Python-ideas] Cleaner separation of help() and interactive help.

[Greg Ewing]

Steven D'Aprano wrote:

> Do you have a reliable source for that claim about "most" people that is 
> relevant to Python coders? We're not all using Microsoft VisualStudio :)

I'm not talking about IDEs. I'm talking about things like the
Terminal in MacOSX, the cmd window in Windows, and equivalent
things in the Linux and X11 worlds. It's very rare nowadays
for anyone to be using a command-line style interface in
anything that doesn't have scroll bars attached to it.

> What you're describing *is* a pager.

Yes, of course, but it's one better matched to the characteristics
of the environment I usually find myself working in nowadays.
Using a pager designed for glass ttys in a Terminal window is
actually *worse* in many ways than just dumping the text out
with no pager at all.

> Perhaps help() should come 
> with some more pagers and an easy interface for setting which one is used.

Yes, that would be good.

-- 
Greg