[Python-Dev] Documentation reorganization

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Adam Olsen writes:
 > On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 3:13 PM, Stephen J. Turnbull <stephen at xemacs.org> wrote:

 > > I would like to see the clear division between the language (ie,
 > > the syntax) and the built-in functionality maintained.  I'm not
 > > sure I like the proposed title for that reason.
 > 
 > Such a division would make it unnecessarily hard to find documentation
 > on True, False, None, etc.  They've become keywords for pragmatic
 > purposes (to prevent accidental modification), not because we think
 > they ideally should be syntax instead of builtins.

This is Python; of course practicality beats purity.  I have no
problem with putting some keywords in the "built-in functionality"
section, or even (boggle) duplicate them across the two sections.

I too was put off by the separation of syntax from built-in
functionality when I first started using the documentation, but later
I came to appreciate it.  I'm a relatively casual user of Python, and
having a spare "syntax" section has made it much easier to learn new
syntax such as comprehensions and generators.  I suspect it will make
it a lot easier to learn the differences between Python 2 and Python
3, too.  I do not want to lose that.

I don't pretend to be speaking for anyone else, but I'd be surprised
if I were unique.<wink>