[Python-ideas] The stdlib++ user experience (Was: Introduce `start=1` argument to `math.factorial`)

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Fri, Sep 19, 2014 at 01:39:12AM -0400, John Wong wrote:
> I like stdlib++, but I also want to say it should remain as non-Python-dev
> endorsement
> kind of thing. As a user and a library developer, I see pros and cons.
> 
> Official endorsement can lead to people to abandon whatever they are working
> or make them feel excluded or unappreciated, which is not a very positive
> thing to do.

Yes. Also, it can discourage innovation and encourage monoculture.

As has often been said, the standard library is where good packages go 
to die. In the standard library, a package is ubiquitous, but it's also 
pretty much in stasis, unlikely to change much.

    "We biologists have a word for stable: 'dead'."
    - some biologist


So if you want something under active development, likely to gain new 
features, you normally look outside the std lib, where there is plenty 
of innovation, experimentation and competition.

Now imagine that one package gets recommended as "best of breed" for 
some particular task in this hypothetical stdlib++. It will combine the 
ubiquity of the stdlib (because everyone uses it) without the 
disadvantage of stasis. That could make it much harder for a new package 
in the same field to become well-known enough to compete for users and 
developers.

Now obviously there are "best of breed" third party libraries. I don't 
see many people trying to build a better BeautifulSoup. (Maybe they are, 
and I just don't know about them, which demonstrates the problem.) 
That's not necessarily a bad thing. But I think we should be careful of 
putting the thumb on the scales too much.



-- 
Steven