On Sat, Nov 7, 2009 at 1:35 AM, Milind Khadilkar <zedobject@gmail.com> wrote:
QUOTE imho,
PyPI + PEP 381 + PEP 381 compliant clients == CPAN UNQUOTE In addition to PyPI, PEP381, PEP381 compliant clients, we need a dash of changed outlook to get CPAN. The Perl community is -- by hearsay -- oriented sympathetically towards people who are not primarily programmers. In particular, I have heard scientists and finance persons developing web applications say this when introduced to python.
But the same people were more satisfied with the python stuff when somebody helped them through the technicalities.
When someone encounters PyPI for the first time, is it easy to learn about it from the PyPI page itself? Hopeful clicks on the "tutorial" link brings up a bewildering CheeseShop Tutorial, without an explanation of what CheeseShop is. Reading through the options detailed in the page makes sense only if you already know about them. Definitely not the material for the beginner or for the technologically-just-adequate.
By the way, the PyPI tutorial is just an example. The python community, while excellent in the support it provides to the technically competent, needs to be more friendly towards mere end-users. The attitude should be more charitable than "GOD helps them, and only them, who help themselves".
Or, rather than between commuinities, is it actually the difference between Python and Perl as languages themselves?
I don't know about the difference between Perl and Python, but I do know this about me (and this applies to other people in this room I believe) As a "packaging tools" developer I am totally plunged into the technical aspects of the project, and I unfortunately don't have all the time I wish I had to work on this more. Especially right now because there's a lot of work going on. So, for the documentation part, I am hiding behind the agile manifesto, which says, "working software over comprehensive documentation" but that's a shame :) Now, if you do want to help in the documentation so it's better for newcomers, (in PyPI, Distutils, etc), I think we would all be happy on such contributions Tarek