[Python-Dev] Docs of weak stdlib modules should encourage exploration of 3rd-party alternatives

[Paul Moore]

On 13 March 2012 13:34, Donald Stufft <donald.stufft at gmail.com> wrote:

> http://python-guide.org ?

Hmm, yes maybe. I had seen this before (it's where I found out about
requests, IIRC).

As it says, it "is mostly a skeleton at the moment". With some
fleshing out, then it's probably a good start. I have some problems
with its recommendations (notably "If you’re starting work on a new
Python module, I recommend you write it for Python 2.5 or 2.6, and add
support for Python3 in a later iteration." which is probably not
appropriate for something that would be officially sanctioned by the
core developers). Also, I don't think we want something advertised as
"opinionated".

And it covers a much wider area than the original suggestion. I'd
envisaged something more like a simple list of "obvious" modules:

"""
Requests - URL

Requests is a module designed to make getting resources from the web
as easy as possible. It is a simpler and more powerful alternative to
the stdlib urllib and urllib2 modules. ...

Some code samples here giving basic usage.
"""

My ideal would be something I could scan in a few spare moments, and
pick up pointers to particular modules that I'd find useful.
Basically, take the "Scenario Guide" section of python-guide, flesh it
out, and turn it into a flat list. (I don't like the "Scenario"
approach as it tends to force people into a particular view of the
world, but maybe that's just me, my applications tend to be more
eclectic than any of the "normal" categories).

Paul.