[Python-Dev] PEP397 no command line options to python?

[Nick Coghlan]

On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 10:00 AM, Mark Hammond <skippy.hammond at gmail.com> wrote:
> * The "magic" symbol is somewhat self-documenting - it implies a question.
>  Using  --which adds another special case that people would need to
> understand isn't passed to Python.  IOW, I like that there is only 1 special
> option and that one special option can be expressed in the form of a
> question.

This may be a difference in what we're used to. To me, the "-?" is
strongly associated with "-h" and "--help", whereas "--which" maps
directly to the *nix "which" command:

$ which python
/usr/bin/python

As far as simplicity and extensibility go, I would treat "--which" the
way most programs treat "--help" and "--version" - they can appear
anywhere on the command line and completely change the expected output
of the command:

$ python -Ei --version -c "This is never evaluated"
Python 2.7.1

So I don't actually see any particularly *new* design decisions to be
made in relation to a "--which" option - it's just a workaround for
the lack of a native 'which' equivalent on Windows, and it behaves
like Python's own "--version" option.

Cheers,
Nick.

-- 
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia