[Python-Dev] Tutorial: Brief Introduction to the Standard Libary

[Skip Montanaro]

    Raymond> Some other candidates (let's pick just a two or three):

    Raymond> - csv (basic tool for sharing data with other applications)

-0.  I think basic usage is covered pretty well in the libref.  At best, I'd
just mention that it exists and link to the libref.

    Raymond> - datetime (comes up frequently in real apps and admin tasks)

+1.  Discussing how datetime and time integrate would be useful.

    Raymond> - ftplib (because the examples are so brief)

-1.  I would think it's rarely used.

    Raymond> - getopt or optparse (because the task is common)

+1.

    Raymond> - operator (because otherwise, the functionals can be a PITA)

-1.  The most common case people needs is now covered by a builtin (sum).

    Raymond> - pprint (because beauty counts)

+0.  Brief mention at best.

    Raymond> - struct (because fixed record layouts are common)

-0.  Only for propeller heads.

    Raymond> - threading/Queue (because without direction people grab thread
    Raymond>   and mutexes)

+0.  I agree that stumbling on thread is too common.  OTOH, threads in
general are a pretty advanced topic, and probably not real suitable for the
tutorial.

    Raymond> - timeit (because it answers most performance questions in a
    Raymond>   jiffy)

-1.  Newbies should probably not be worried about performance too much.  In
addition, I think most performance questions are deeper than those which can
be answered by timeit (think naive O(n^2) algorithms).

    Raymond> - unittest (because TDD folks like myself live by it)

+1.  There's no time like the present to start adding tests.

    Raymond> I've avoided XML because it is a can of worms and because short
    Raymond> examples don't do it justice.  OTOH, it *is* the hot topic of
    Raymond> the day and seems to be taking over the world one angle bracket
    Raymond> at a time.

-1.  XML is too complex for tutorial material.

Skip