[Doc-SIG] An 'apropos' utility for documentations

[Tim Peters]

[John Skaller]
>         I've been thinking for a while on the following
> somewhat related problem: a lot of library docstrings are
> missing. It's all very well for Guido to ask for patches,
> but this has to be the most inconvenient update mechanism
> around.

Would be interesting to know how many docstring patches Guido has
received -- expect it would be a strong confirmation of the ineffectiveness
of this approach.

>         And then I saw the TODO list Ken put up.
> Which is excellent! So, if there were a way to
> make an _online_ list of every function, class, and module
> in the library, with the current docstring, and allow
> everyone to add docstrings over the Internet, like the TODO list,
> we'd have more people able to make small contributions.

I have no idea how to implement that (specifically getting the latest
contributions back into the sources), but it's a truly wonderful idea!  If I
can whine at anybody to help this along, just point me in the poor bastard's
direction.

> [There are some interesting issues here, such as foreign
> language docstrings. Why English?]

Because only a handful of misfits speak Australian <wink>.

roofully y'rs  - tim