[Python-Dev] Rework nntlib?

[geremy condra]

On Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 4:18 AM, Steven D'Aprano <steve at pearwood.info> wrote:
> On Wed, 15 Sep 2010 01:06:29 pm geremy condra wrote:
>
>> I ran some statistics on the number of times modules out of the
>> stdlib got imported a few months ago
>
> What do those statistics measure?
>
> The number of individual import statements with a given module name? The
> number of times those imports are actually executed? Something else?

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I already told you that. It's
the number of packages on pypi that imported each of those, and I
measured it by parsing for import statements.

>> and came up with a reasonably
>> comprehensive list of the least-used things in the stdlib.
>
> Least used by whom?

Not to be pedantic, but there isn't a good answer to a question as
vague as this. If you want a piece of information, ask for it and I'll
tell you if I can get it or not.

>> I'm not sure what the name of the library was originally, but the
>> word 'gopher' does not appear in any of the imports that I was able
>> to parse in pypi. By contrast, nntplib and poplib are tied at 8
> [...]
>
>
> I don't know how to interpret that. Does that mean that there are eight
> modules in the whole of PyPi which import nntplib or poplib? If so,
> what does that tell us? Those eight modules could have three users
> between them, or they could be critical infrastructure for a quarter of
> the Internet.

Yup. The closest I could come to representing that would be by the
number of downloads, and IIRC I have that information laying around
here somewhere. It would probably be several days before I could
get ahold of it though.

> I'm not trying to belittle the stats you have gathered, but without the
> context of *what* the numbers represent, it's impossible to put any
> meaning to them.

Not really. It's a metric of use, and as such a starting point in a
discussion. After that I wouldn't take it too seriously no matter what
metric is applied- looking at the number of downloads on pypi it's a
fairly small sample anyway.

Geremy Condra