[Python-Dev] Struct module format code addition

[Raymond Hettinger]

[Josiah]
> I'm asking for the equivalent of a previously invalid
> flag, to become valid, ...

IMO, there was an early transition from asking to demanding.  Negative
comments by some of the top developers did not dissuade you in the
least.



> If every request to interpret a new flag required significant
community
> involvement, goodness, would it take an act of Guido to get a commit
> done?

Yes, if a proposal doesn't win developer support, then having Guido as a
champion is the best bet.

If you are opinion shopping, then the best so far is Tim's comment which
seems to equate to a +0.  That would be sufficient only if he cares
enough to review the patch, write the docs, test it, maintain it, etc.
Perhaps he will, perhaps he won't.

FWIW, last year I had dropped one of my own proposals (relating to a
non-unicode use for encode/decode) simply based on respect for Martin's
-1.  For me, that was more important than the +0 to +1 comments from
others, more important than my own use cases, and more important than
feeling like I was right.  In the end, there was an easy pure python
equivalent and life went on.

Looking at the struct feature request, I think it would be harmless to
add it.  OTOH, it is easily handled in python and will be easier still
when the binascii functions get put in.  Arguably, the feature is
somewhat trivial and won't change anyone's life for good or ill.

So, you have to ask yourself whether it is worth jamming down everyone's
throats to get it in after the beta goes out.  For my money, the feature
request has already consumed more developer resources than it could ever
save.



Raymond