On 8/4/19 1:13 PM, Anders Hovmöller wrote:
On 3 Aug 2019, at 12:18, Dan Sommers <2QdxY4RzWzUUiLuE@potatochowder.com> wrote:
Once I know what SMTP is, and what the smtplib module does, and I've used it a couple of times, then seeing the list of names inside the module might remind me how to use it. So maybe SMTP is an extreme case. I'm sure there are others.
How does TAB completion help me to discover hashlib, if all I know is that I want the SHA-3 of some file?
Again, I'm not disputing the usefulness of TAB completion; my point is that it's a sub-optimal tool for discoverability
It seems like there is a nugget of an idea of how to make a truly awesome autocomplete in your example. What if if you type email + tab and there is no symbol it said "email is sent with the smtp module"? That would be pretty great!
It already works like that: I type "python send email" + Enter (which is a larger target than Tab, so it's easier to use), and one of those World Wide Web Search Engine thingies points me to Python documentation, an Stack Overflow post, or some random blog or other, at least one of which is bound not to be too outdated. I guess it all depends on how you define "autocomplete" and "IDE." :-/