[Python-Dev] Questions/comments on documentation formatting

[Georg Brandl]

Brett Cannon schrieb:
> I have been writing up the initial docs for importlib and four things struck me:
> 
> 1. Why is three space indents the preferred indentation level?

As said, it matches directive content with directive headers nicely.
Ben's solution is nice as well, but now that we have 3-space I'd rather
we stick with 3-space (however, if you don't care, I'll not reformat
4-space indents :)

Code in code blocks should use 4-space as usual.

> 2. Should we start using function annotations?

It's not really supported yet by Sphinx.  Also, I don't know if it makes
too much sense, given that it will reinforce the thinking of annotations
as type declarations.

> 3. Are brackets for optional arguments (e.g. ``def fxn(a [, b=None [,
> c=None]])``) really necessary when default argument values are
> present? And do we really need to nest the brackets when it is obvious
> that having on optional argument means the rest are optional as well?

We've discussed that once on the doc-SIG, and I agreed that the bracketing
is not really pretty, especially if it's heavily nested.  Python functions
where it makes sense should use the default-value syntax, while C functions
without kwargs support need to keep the brackets.

Making this consistent throughout the docs is no small task, of course.

> 4. The var directive is not working even though the docs list it as a
> valid directive; so is it still valid and something is broken, or the
> docs need to be updated?

(First, you're confusing "directive" and "role" which led to some confusion
on Benjamin's part.)

Where is a "var" role documented? If it is, it is a bug.

Georg