[Python-ideas] itertools recipes: why not add them to the stdlib *somewhere*?

[alex23]

On Jul 7, 4:14 am, Jürgen A. Erhard <jae+pyt... at jaerhard.com> wrote:
> So... I consider it very strange and annoying that there's this code.
> Ready to use.  But you have to copy-and-paste it into your code
> *somewhere* instead of easily importing it.

I find it strange and annoying when people expect the standard library
to contain _everything_. What you gain in the convenience of readily
imported code imposes a cost on the ongoing maintenance and support of
the standard lib. Are you volunteering to write the PEP for its
inclusion, provide the implementation and support it until the end of
time?

> As to the "it makes using Python harder to learn", I beg to
> differ: an addition to the *language* (like, say, metaclasses) *can*
> make it more complicated.  But additions to the stdlib?  What about
> "batteries included"?  Not a motto anymore (I heard rumors, so maybe
> that's the case)

Every single function added to the library makes the library broader
and thus more difficult to retain in memory.

It _is_ possible to present a case without snide allusions based on
hearsay: http://www.python.org/about/

> Putting these in some official(!) iterutils (or name it what you want)
> package would be a solution for so many people.  Yes, not everyone
> needs grouper's current functionality.  But for the many who do, it'd
> be there already.

So in the extremely likely outcome that a piece of functionality has
multiple implementations with different interpretations of edge cases,
who gets to decide which one is "more standard" than the other? If
such a decision has to be made, then it's not really "standard".

> And someone thought those recipes are useful,
> didn't you?  So why not make them more easily available?

Because not everything needs to be in the standard library.

Because searching somewhere like Activestate's cookbook and copying
the implementations you find useful really isn't an onerous task.

Because if *you* feel there's an obvious lack in the stdlib then roll
your own package that covers it and put it up on PyPI. If it becomes
insanely popular, then you have a lot more leverage for insisting that
something would be beneficial to be included other than gut feeling &
convenience.