[Tutor] Documentation concerns.

[Jorge Godoy]

"Alan Gauld" <alan.gauld@blueyonder.co.uk> writes:

> In my 5 years or so using Python I think I've only looked at
> standard module code maybe 3 or 4 times, the rest of the time I use
> the documentation and experimenting with the >>> prompt.

I do that too, but I think it's more productive when I get the docs
easily. As I said in another message, looking at the source code is
the last approach I take: usually it takes longer than searching
something on Internet and maybe it isn't as helpful, specially for big
packages such as wxPython. 

> I guess people who have cut their programming teeth using open
> source tools are used to having the source available and so adopt a
> different culture, where documentation is the last resort.  That

Documentation should be the first resort. This is why it is important
to have it as easily accessible as with standard system's
documentation. 

> could lead to problems if they ever have to work on a project using
> commercial tools with no source code!

If they have good programming background they will be used to read the
docs. They won't have the source and that can only be a problem if
they rely solely on it for writing their code... I don't know anybody
that relies only in the source code (except when the documentation is
embedded in the source code and not extractable with something) to
write their programs. And I worked some years side by side with very
good Linux hackers... 


See you,
-- 
Godoy.    <godoy@metalab.unc.edu>