Mailman 3 February 2024 - docs

A suggestion for improving the documentation of chapter 10.9. Data Compression
by Guy Goldner 22 May '24

22 May '24

Hello dear Python gods :) I'm new at Python and was going over the documentation . This useful paragraph : https://docs.python.org/3.7/tutorial/stdlib.html#data-compression provides info for compressing text but IMHO some important additional info is needed, without which I expect nearly all users would get stuck just as I have. Moreover, while looking for a solution I noticed a lot of articles with outdated examples which no longer work - this confused me even more to the point I started suspecting something was amiss on my end... Anyhow, adding this info would do the trick : zlib works only with bytes and in Python 3.x strings are no longer bytes. Example : *>>> zlib.compress('this is a sample string which does not work in zlib because it requires bytes and not unicode')Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>TypeError: a bytes-like object is required, not 'str'>>>* Luckily Python has a very simple solution for this : encode to utf-8, compress, decode back to unicode like so : *>>> text = 'this is a sample string which does not work in zlib because it requires bytes and not unicode with chars like this »שלום '>>> encoded = text.encode()>>> text = 'this is a sample with unicode chars »שלום '>>> encoded = text.encode()>>> compressed = zlib.compress(encoded)>>> decompressed = zlib.decompress(compressed)>>> decoded = decompressed.decode()>>> len(text),len(encoded),len(compressed) #notice that compression of short strings can be larger than the original(42, 47, 54)>>> print(text,'\n',encoded,'\n',compressed)this is a sample with unicode chars »שלום b'this is a sample with unicode chars \xc2\xbb\xd7\xa9\xd7\x9c\xd7\x95\xd7\x9d ' b'x\x9c+\xc9\xc8,V\x00\xa2D\x85\xe2\xc4\xdc\x82\x9cT\x85\xf2\xcc\x92\x0c\x85\xd2\xbc\xcc\xe4\xfc\x94T\x85\xe4\x8c\xc4\xa2b\x85C\xbb\xaf\xaf\xbc>\xe7\xfa\xd4\xebs\x15\x00\xb2K\x14|'>>> text == decodedTrue* Thank you ! You are doing a great thing ! B.R., Guy Goldner

2 2

confusing code line
by don l 17 Apr '24

17 Apr '24

https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/introduction.html this isn't explained print(a) a, b = b, a+b why have a? why have b = b ? why aren't 3 values printed? why only a+b is printed? don

2 1

socket.makefile(): overly restrictive 'mode' documented
by Michael Gold 29 Feb '24

29 Feb '24

Hi, The documentation for socket.makefile() says: socket.makefile(mode='r', […]) […] These arguments are interpreted the same way as by the built-in open() function, except the only supported mode values are 'r' (default), 'w' and 'b'. https://docs.python.org/3/library/socket.html#socket.socket.makefile The actual code, however, accepts mode values such as 'rw'; the value is required to be a string that's any combination of the listed characters: if not set(mode) <= {"r", "w", "b"}: raise ValueError("invalid mode %r (only r, w, b allowed)" % (mode,)) As it's quite useful to make a file object that's readable and writable, or writable and binary, the documentation should be changed to allow it. -- Michael

1 0

documentation bug
by Oren 26 Feb '24

26 Feb '24

Hi there, In this section of the docs: https://docs.python.org/3/library/subprocess.html#subprocess.Popen.communic… the example shows: proc = subprocess.Popen(...)try: outs, errs = proc.communicate(timeout=15)except TimeoutExpired: proc.kill() outs, errs = proc.communicate() should it instead say: proc = subprocess.Popen(...)try: outs, errs = proc.communicate(timeout=15)except TimeoutExpired: proc.kill() thanks! - Oren

2 1

Starting Python ! Need help
by Rajeeb Lochan Chand 03 Feb '24

03 Feb '24

Hello. I want to learn Python with a focus on Robotics, Image processing and Machine learning. Also I want to be able to visualize data with and make those wonderful videos as they make on YouTube. I know the basics of C and Java at this point. I want to ask any resource you would prefer for me to follow to learn Python in detail. I am just taking a look at the documentation. Should I stick to it? Or you can suggest any YouTube playlist or course that will help me learn. I want to learn the language along with the thinking skill for programming in a very detailed and efficient way. Thanks. - Rajeeb

1 0

Inquiry and Suggestion for cProfile Documentation
by Hassan Haroon 01 Feb '24

01 Feb '24

Dear cProfile Development Team, I trust this email finds you well. I am reaching out to inquire about the profiling capabilities of cProfile, particularly in discerning between CPU and GPU-bound tasks. While the existing documentation provides valuable insights into CPU-bound tasks, there is a noticeable absence of information regarding how cProfile handles GPU-related activities in Python scripts, particularly those involving deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow. In my experience, working with mixed CPU and GPU operations is common in our projects. However, the documentation does not explicitly differentiate whether cProfile is primarily designed for CPU profiling, GPU profiling, or both. Clarifying this distinction would greatly assist developers in understanding the scope and applicability of cProfile to their specific use cases. In the event that the documentation already addresses these concerns but we were unable to locate the relevant information, kindly guide us to the appropriate sections. This would aid us in making the best use of the existing documentation and provide the clarity we seek. I kindly request you to consider providing more explicit documentation or insights into how cProfile captures and reports GPU-bound tasks. By explicitly stating whether cProfile is designed to profile GPU activities, users would have a clearer understanding of the tool's capabilities and limitations. Additionally, any best practices or considerations for profiling mixed CPU-GPU workloads would be immensely valuable. I believe that this enhancement in the documentation would greatly benefit developers working on diverse projects involving deep learning and GPU-accelerated tasks. If there are complementary resources or tools for profiling GPU activities, please share that information as well. Thank you for your time and dedication to cProfile's development. I appreciate any insights or updates you may provide. Best regards, Hassan Bin Haroon

1 0