Mailman 3 February 2011 - docs

[issue9802] Document 'stability' of builtin min() and max()
by Matthew Woodcraft March 4, 2011

March 4, 2011

New submission from Matthew Woodcraft <matthew(a)woodcraft.me.uk>: In CPython, the builtin max() and min() have the property that if there are items with equal keys, the first item is returned. From a quick look at their source, I think this is true for Jython and IronPython too. I propose making this a documented guarantee. On Python-dev, Raymond Hettinger said: << That seems like a reasonable request. This behavior has been around for a very long time is unlikely to change. Elsewhere, we've made efforts to document sort stability (i.e. sorted(), heapq.nlargest(), heapq.nsmallest, merge(), etc). >> (<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2010-September/103543.html>) I'm attaching a patch with a concrete suggestion for a change to functions.rst, modelled on the documentation of heapq.nlargest(). ---------- assignee: docs@python components: Documentation files: maxmin.patch keywords: patch messages: 115892 nosy: docs@python, mattheww priority: normal severity: normal status: open title: Document 'stability' of builtin min() and max() type: feature request Added file: http://bugs.python.org/file18802/maxmin.patch _______________________________________ Python tracker <report(a)bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue9802> _______________________________________

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chaos
by Colin Reveley March 4, 2011

March 4, 2011

here: http://docs.python.org/library/turtle.html#demo-scripts you say that chaotic behavior "proves that you cannot trust a computer's computations" well, the opposite is the case. it proves you can trust computations absolutely. the computations are deterministic. they are correct. that's how the lorenz attractor was discovered. you do need to know what a computer does (and to what) when it computes, and what it doesn't, and how to interpret it. it's misleading to say that computation is untrustworthy. computation is a particular thing, that's all. it might seem pedantic but I think it's a much more interesting and important thing for a student to think about than "untrustworthy". which is just false anyway. as you know I'm sure. I'm not trying to be patronising.

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plistlib doc
by David Cotter March 3, 2011

March 3, 2011

http://docs.python.org/library/plistlib.html does not list all the available methods of each new class please document: for example: what are the methods of "Dict" ? 'clear', 'copy', 'fromkeys', 'get', 'has_key', 'items', 'iteritems', 'iterkeys', 'itervalues', 'keys', 'pop', 'popitem', 'setdefault', 'update', 'values' these are not documented and what about all the other classes? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ David M. Cotter mailto:david.cotter@adobe.com Interface Surgeon, After Effects http://www.adobe.com/aftereffects/ Adobe Systems, Inc. (206) 675-7437

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Bug viewing docs.python.org from IPod/IPhone
by Anton Chikin March 1, 2011

March 1, 2011

Hi, I've noticed that code sample blocks long lines are truncated with the right edge of the screen while browsing documentation on docs.python.org with Safari browser from IPod/IPhone 3G(S). You can find screenshots from http://docs.python.org/tutorial/datastructures.html page in the attachment. With best regards, Anton CHikin.

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curses page doesn't mention the resize method
by Florent Le Coz March 1, 2011

March 1, 2011

On the curses page [0], there is no mention of the window.resize() method, though it exists. The C equivalent function is documented here [1]. Could this method be added in the documentation? Unless there's a good reason not to, obviously. [0] http://docs.python.org/library/curses.html [1] http://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?section=3&topic=wresize -- Florent Le Coz

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Examples in "13.1. csv — CSV File Reading and Writing" don't close files
by Neil Vass Feb. 28, 2011

Feb. 28, 2011

Hi, I have a suggestion for the csv module's documentation. The examples in http://docs.python.org/library/csv.html show file reading like this: reader = csv.reader(open("some.csv", "rb")) This leaves the file handle open after use, without a way to close it. A better example might be ifile = open("some.csv", "rb") reader = csv.reader(ifile) * ... process file ...* ifile.close() Thanks for all your good work, Neil

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Bug in "re.sub" docs
by Thomas Waldmann Feb. 28, 2011

Feb. 28, 2011

http://docs.python.org/library/re.html#re.sub a) flags param seems to be not there in the implementation b) "That is, \n is converted to a single newline character, \r is converted to a linefeed, and so forth." Obviously, \r is NOT linefeed, but carriage return.

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[issue1720250] PyGILState_Ensure does not acquires GIL
by Antoine Pitrou Feb. 28, 2011

Feb. 28, 2011

Antoine Pitrou <pitrou(a)free.fr> added the comment: > Given the deprecation of PyEval_ReleaseLock in issue10913, should this > be closed as "out of date"? Indeed :) ---------- resolution: -> out of date stage: test needed -> status: open -> closed _______________________________________ Python tracker <report(a)bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue1720250> _______________________________________

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[issue1720250] PyGILState_Ensure does not acquires GIL
by Nick Coghlan Feb. 28, 2011

Feb. 28, 2011

Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan(a)gmail.com> added the comment: Given the deprecation of PyEval_ReleaseLock in issue10913, should this be closed as "out of date"? ---------- nosy: +ncoghlan _______________________________________ Python tracker <report(a)bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue1720250> _______________________________________

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[issue4600] __class__ assignment: new-style? heap? == confusing
by Benjamin Peterson Feb. 27, 2011

Feb. 27, 2011

Benjamin Peterson <benjamin(a)python.org> added the comment: This is not really accurate: >>> class x(int): pass ... >>> class y(object): pass ... >>> x().__class__ = y Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> TypeError: __class__ assignment: 'x' object layout differs from 'y' >>> y().__class__ = x Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> TypeError: __class__ assignment: 'y' object layout differs from 'x' ---------- nosy: +benjamin.peterson _______________________________________ Python tracker <report(a)bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue4600> _______________________________________

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