Pursuant to a conversation Guido and I had in New York, I have gone through and converted the Python library code to use string methods wherever possible, removing a whole boatload of "import string" statements in the process.
(This is one of those times when it's a really, *really* good thing that most modules have an attached self-test. I supplied a couple of these where they were lacking, and improved several of the existing test jigs.)
One side-effect of the change is that nothing in the library uses splitfields or joinfields anymore. But in the process I found a curious contradiction:
stringold.py:# NB: split(s) is NOT the same as splitfields(s, ' ')! stringold.py: (split and splitfields are synonymous) stringold.py:splitfields = split string.py:# NB: split(s) is NOT the same as splitfields(s, ' ')! string.py: (split and splitfields are synonymous) string.py:splitfields = split
It certainly looks to me as though the "NB" comment is out of date. Is there some subtle and wicked reason it has not been removed?