[Python-Dev] A suggestion: Do proto-PEPs in Google Docs

[Guido van Rossum]

On Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 6:25 AM,  <rdmurray at bitdance.com> wrote:
> On Sat, 21 Feb 2009 at 01:12, Jeff Hall wrote:
>>>
>>> Not that I'm expecting to be working on PEPs any time soon, but just as a
>>> different perspective, I would find the effort to open up Google docs to
>>> be a much higher barrier to doing some editing tweaks than the dvcs case.
>>> For the DVCS, I'd just write a little script that would (1) update (2)
>>> open the editor on the file (3) do the commit/push dance when the file
>>> was closed.  So for me it would be as easy as editing the file locally.
>>>
>>> So for my work style, a DVCS would be the biggest win.
>>>
>>> --RDM
>>
>> That's funny because I would expect that for most people it's the exact
>> opposite... just create a gmail account... boom, done... I'm not
>> necessarily
>> advocating that but just saying that IMO, most people will find google
>> docs
>> to be the "fastest" and "easiest" solution.
>
> The ease of creating a gmail account has nothing to do with the point
> to which I was responding (context which is lost from your reply).
> That's setup.  I was responding to a point talking about in-the-moment
> workflow.  A browser and a GUI javascript program are slower than a unix
> command line based editor such as vim or emacs both to open up and to use.
> Thus for me, by using a script to automate the part that the OP suggested
> would slow the dvcs user down (the update/commit/push cycle), I make
> the dvcs in-the-moment workflow much faster _for me_ than Google Docs.
>
> As I said it's a matter of personal style.  Some people _will_ find
> Google Docs easier and more productive than a dvcs.  My point was that
> not all people will.

That's a discussion that can never come to a decent conclusion. We
will never find a solution that works for *everyone*, and IMO we don't
need to bend over backwards to try. I don't doubt for a second that
for *most* people the barrier to using Google Docs is less than the
barrier to using a DVCS, even if when you take a sampling of hard core
open source developers that might not be so clear-cut.

-- 
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)