[Python-Dev] Sharing expat instances

[Michael McLay]

On Wednesday 14 December 2005 01:05, Fredrik Lundh wrote:
> Michael McLay wrote:
> > Avoiding imaginaary name collisions and putting cElementTree into the xml
> > package
>
> there's nothing imaginary here -- cElementTree is an existing and quite
> popular module, and will remain available as a separate distribution.
>
> it would be nice if people could install that kit also under 2.5 without
> risking to mess up their Python installation.
>
> (another solution would of course to rule out use of cElementTree by
> modules shipped with Python...)

Renaming the cElementTree in the standard distribution to etree would 
elmiinate collisions with the existing cElementTree. A few other names to 
consider would be xmltree or xmlTree.  Or, if the consensus is to keep it in 
the xml package, the name could still be shorted to calling it xml.tree.  

Average name lengths in the standard distribution are getting longer. In some 
cases the longer names are very helpful when browsing the module index. For 
instance, the function of SimpleXMLRPCServer is immediately apparent. To me, 
the purpose of a package named ElementTree isn't as apparent. While there is 
value in having meaningful names, there is also an advantage in having names 
short for commonly used tools. Imagine how painful it would be to type 
Operatingsystem instead of os. The name xmltree would be shorter and as 
descriptive as xml.cElementTree. The name etree would be shorter, but less 
descriptive.