[Python-ideas] sys.path is a hack - bringing it back under control

[Terry Reedy]

On 2/20/2012 12:39 PM, anatoly techtonik wrote:

> I am not an English writer,

I am a native English (American) speaker/writer who can barely write in 
one other natural language (Spanish). So I have great sympathy for and 
appreciation for those who struggle with English. And I am willing to 
help those who wish to improve.

 > but I am interested to know where did this
> impression of me calling core developers a bunch of incompetent idiots
> is coming from.

 From the way you have written in the past. Nick may have been 
exaggerating a bit, but I have gotten similar impressions, though you 
have been writing better and more effectively recently. I think it was 
just a month ago that you were persuasive enough to get something added 
for 3.3.

 > If anybody can quote concrete example and explain in
> private - I may have a chance to change something.

Now that I know that it is not your intention to come across as 
antagonistic, I will try to do the above if I see bad examples in the 
future.

 > My English is a result of learning legal and technical English texts,

The legal part in interesting. Legal English in adversarial situations 
is used to metaphorically club people -- or to confuse people.

In reading the Argentina Python users list, I have noticed that 
conversational Spanish is not exactly the same as the formal Spanish I 
learned in classes some decades ago. But it is sometimes hard to know 
what is a sloppy error and what is an accepted idiom.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy