[Edu-sig] what a wor[l]d of difference

[Jason Cunliffe]

aah!!  -- os.environ

Thanks to Leif I learn that os.environ hold the key to much of my
perplexity.
And as with much of Python, and programming in general, it is process of
initiation. A crucial part of which is know what to search for..

consider the difference between
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=environment+pytho
n
and
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=environ+python

Likewise among the books I consulted

> *Books*
> Before writing this, last night along with docs and Google research I went
> to my Python shelf and pulled down the following:
>
> - Python Essential Reference by David M. Beazley
> - The Quick Python Book by Darryl Harms and Kenneth Mcdonald
> - Python Programming on Win32 by Mark Hammond and Andy Robinson
> - Core Python Programming by Wesley Chun
> - Python Cookbook edited by Alex Martelli and David Ascher
> - Python In A Nutshell by Alex Martelli

Only two books from my shelf --  'Python In A Nutshell' and 'Python
Essential Reference' list the word "environ" directly in the index.
And even had I thought/known to look up 'os' module, only two books in my
collection list os.environ in the index --  'The Quick Python Book' and
David Beazley 'Python Essential Reference ' [the winner for best index in
random test]

Searching the python.org site for environ or environment is pretty
overwhelming, but http://web.pydoc.org/ is a little better.
A more direct less overhwleming search I learn is
http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/pyhelp.cgi

The 'on-ramp' to Python is often much like road signs around New York City.

thanks
Jason