Mailman 3 March 2011 - docs

[issue9536] defaultdict doc makes incorrect reference to __missing__ method
by John Posner Dec. 12, 2014

Dec. 12, 2014

New submission from John Posner <jjposner(a)optimum.net>: The documentation for collections.defaultdict is confusing with respect to the __missing__ method. The fact is that a programmer using defaultdict does not need to know anything about __missing__. The attached patch contains a rewrite of the entire section (but not the "defaultdict Examples" section, which is fine. ---------- assignee: docs@python components: Documentation files: defaultdict.patch keywords: patch messages: … [View More]

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[issue10583] Encoding issue with chm help in 2.7.1
by flashk Oct. 6, 2014

Oct. 6, 2014

New submission from flashk <flashk(a)gmail.com>: I just updated to Python 2.7.1 and noticed a small issue with the chm help file. The search results tab displays incorrect characters for various topic titles. It seems to be an encoding issue. For example, searching for 'json' yields the following results: - 18.2 json â€” JSON encoder and decoder - Whatâ€™s New in Python 2.6 I noticed this issue on Windows XP 32-bit and Windows 7 64-bit. This issue does not exist with the 2.7 chm … [View More]

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[issue10031] Withdraw anti-recommendation of relative imports from documentation
by Darren Dale Oct. 6, 2014

Oct. 6, 2014

New submission from Darren Dale <dsdale24(a)gmail.com>: Old-style relative imports have been strongly discouraged in some sections of the python documentation. This was discussed on the python-dev mailing list. Executive summary: "The issue is implementing a PEP with nice support for relative imports, and then documenting that it should never be used." To which Guido responded: --- "Isn't this mostly historical? Until the new relative-import syntax was implemented there were various … [View More]problems with relative imports. The short-term solution was to recommend not using them. The long-term solution was to implement an unambiguous syntax. Now it is time to withdraw the anti-recommendation. Of course, without going overboard -- I still find them an acquired taste; but they have their place." --- It was suggested I open a ticket and suggest specific changes. They are listed below: The faq at http://docs.python.org/py3k/faq/programming.html#what-are-the-best-practice… could go from: "Never use relative package imports. If you’re writing code that’s in the package.sub.m1 module and want to import package.sub.m2, do not just write from . import m2, even though it’s legal. Write from package.sub import m2 instead. See PEP 328 for details." to: "Although the python community generally prefers absolute imports, relative imports may be useful in certain circumstances. See PEP 328 for details." The programming faq for python-2.7 at http://docs.python.org/faq/programming.html#what-are-the-best-practices-for… could go from: "Never use relative package imports. If you’re writing code that’s in the package.sub.m1 module and want to import package.sub.m2, do not just write import m2, even though it’s legal. Write from package.sub import m2 instead. Relative imports can lead to a module being initialized twice, leading to confusing bugs. See PEP 328 for details." to: "Although the python community generally prefers absolute imports, relative imports may be useful in certain circumstances. Support for relative imports has recently been improved, and the use of the old-style relative imports is strongly discouraged. See PEP 328 for details." There is also this warning against relative imports in PEP 8, that could go from: - Relative imports for intra-package imports are highly discouraged. Always use the absolute package path for all imports. Even now that PEP 328 [7] is fully implemented in Python 2.5, its style of explicit relative imports is actively discouraged; absolute imports are more portable and usually more readable. to: - While the python community generally prefers absolute imports, relative imports may be useful in certain circumstances. Now that PEP 328 [7] is fully implemented in Python 2.5 and later, the older style of implicit relative imports is strongly discouraged. ---------- assignee: docs@python components: Documentation messages: 118031 nosy: docs@python, dsdale24 priority: normal severity: normal status: open title: Withdraw anti-recommendation of relative imports from documentation versions: Python 2.6, Python 2.7, Python 3.1, Python 3.2, Python 3.3 _______________________________________ Python tracker <report(a)bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue10031> _______________________________________ [View Less]

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[issue10702] bytes and bytearray methods are not documented
by Alexander Belopolsky Sept. 27, 2014

Sept. 27, 2014

New submission from Alexander Belopolsky <belopolsky(a)users.sourceforge.net>: Library reference manual has a section dedicated to string methods [1], but similar methods of bytes and bytearray types are not documented. Adding two new sections would probably be too repetitious, so I wonder if it would make sense to add notes about byte/bytearray methods to the matching string methods' entries. See also issue10587. [1] http://docs.python.org/dev/py3k/library/stdtypes.html#string-… [View More]

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[issue11389] unittest: no way to control verbosity of doctests from cmd
by anatoly techtonik July 2, 2014

July 2, 2014

New submission from anatoly techtonik <techtonik(a)gmail.com>: I can't find a way to execute DocTests contained in a separate README.txt file using unittest.main() function. That doesn't allow to control verbosity for debugging. I am doing it this way in the tests.py import doctest import unittest if __name__ == '__main__': runner = unittest.TextTestRunner() runner.run(doctest.DocFileSuite('README.txt', optionflags=doctest.ELLIPSIS)) I could find a way to subclass TestLoader.… [View More]

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[issue11385] TextTestRunner methods are not documented
by anatoly techtonik June 27, 2014

June 27, 2014

New submission from anatoly techtonik <techtonik(a)gmail.com>: TextTestRunner has a run method, which is not documented. It is also is not clear how to add suite to TextTestRunner to be executed later by unittest.main() ---------- assignee: docs@python components: Documentation, Tests messages: 129988 nosy: docs@python, techtonik priority: normal severity: normal status: open title: TextTestRunner methods are not documented versions: Python 2.6 _______________________________________ … [View More]

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[issue10503] os.getuid() documentation should be clear on what kind of uid it is referring
by Giampaolo Rodola' June 7, 2014

June 7, 2014

New submission from Giampaolo Rodola' <g.rodola(a)gmail.com>: http://docs.python.org/library/os.html#os.getuid os.getuid() documentation just states: > Return the current process’s user id. It is not clear, however, whether "user id" refers to real, effective or saved user id. As per: http://linux.about.com/library/cmd/blcmdl2_getuid.htm ...it should refer to _real_ user id. ---------- assignee: docs@python components: Documentation messages: 122117 nosy: docs@python, giampaolo.… [View More]

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[issue9307] Py_TPFLAGS_LONG_SUBCLASS is not documented
by Alexander Belopolsky April 28, 2014

April 28, 2014

New submission from Alexander Belopolsky <belopolsky(a)users.sourceforge.net>: Is there a reason for not documenting Py_TPFLAGS_LONG_SUBCLASS (Py_TPFLAGS_INT_SUBCLASS in 2.x)? This flag is used in PyLong_Check, but neither this flag or its inheritance properties are explained anywhere in the docs. See also issue5476. ---------- assignee: docs@python components: Documentation messages: 110787 nosy: belopolsky, docs@python priority: normal severity: normal stage: needs patch status: … [View More]

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[issue9364] some problems with the documentation of pydoc
by Eli Bendersky April 19, 2014

April 19, 2014

New submission from Eli Bendersky <eliben(a)gmail.com>: The first paragraph in its documentation says: """ In the Python interpreter, do "from pydoc import help" to provide online help. Calling help(thing) on a Python object documents the object. """ Which is no longer accurate, because the help() function has long ago become a built-in. Below is an excerpt from Terry Reedy in a private email discussion on this subject, that raises more issues. ---------------------------------------… [View More]------ 1. The output from help(help) could be made more clear. The nature of 'help' has been a point of confusion. A recent python-list post asked something like "What is 'help'?" Now (with some parallel examples: >>> help(int) Help on class int in module builtins: class int(object) [snip] >>> help(1) Help on int object: class int(object) [snip] >>> help(help) Help on _Helper in module site object: class _Helper(builtins.object) | Define the built-in 'help'. | This is a wrapper around pydoc.help (with a twist). | | Methods defined here: | | __call__(self, *args, **kwds) | a. 'module site object' is nonsense, it should just be 'module site', except that to be parallel to what is done for other instances, it should be 'Help on _Helper object'. Why should help special-case itself (with a slightly garbled line?) Is that done in site._Helper or pydoc.help? However, it would be more helpful for all instances to give the location of the class when one asks for help on an instance, just as when one asks for help on the class itself. It is annoying to to have to repeat help(<classname>) just to get that info. So I would like to see "Help on instance of class int in module builtins:" "Help on instance of class _Helper in module site:" This would be a code patch to pydoc.help b. "This is a wrapper around pydoc.help" good so far "(with a twist)" thanks a lot. I think the comment should be either removed or explained. A reference manual should explain, not tease. Replace "Define the built-in 'help'." with something clearer and more accurate, such as "The name 'help' is injected in module builtins after being bound to an instance of this class.". Put this after, not before, the 'wrapper' line. A patch for site._Helper doc string. 2. Improve manual chapter for site module. a. It currently starts "Importing this module will append site-specific paths to the module search path." Add "inject 'help' into builtins and " after append. Then add a short explanation paragraph before the search path stuff. Something like "This module contains a class (_Helper) that wraps function pydoc.help. An instance of the class is bound to name 'help' in the builtins module." A recent discussion on pydev or maybe python-list (in the thread mentioned above?) implied that one could usefully make another instance of _Helper or maybe a subclass thereof. I did not pay enough attention, though, to really get it. b. It currently ends with "XXX Update documentation XXX document python -m site –user-base –user-site" ---------- assignee: docs@python components: Documentation messages: 111426 nosy: docs@python, eli.bendersky, tjreedy priority: normal severity: normal status: open title: some problems with the documentation of pydoc type: behavior versions: Python 3.1, Python 3.2 _______________________________________ Python tracker <report(a)bugs.python.org> <http://bugs.python.org/issue9364> _______________________________________ [View Less]

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[issue10481] subprocess PIPEs are byte streams
by Glenn Linderman April 14, 2014

April 14, 2014

New submission from Glenn Linderman <v+python(a)g.nevcal.com>: While http://bugs.python.org/issue2683 did clarify the fact that the .communicate API takes a byte stream as input, it is easy to miss the implication. Because Python programs start up with stdin as a text stream, it might be good to point out that some action may need to be taken to be sure that the receiving program expects a byte stream, or that the byte stream supplied should be in an encoding that the receiving program … [View More]

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