[Python-ideas] Add citation() to site.py

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Nikolaus Rath writes:

 > In case of Python, an explicit citation thus adds nothing. Relevant
 > information is easily found by any search engine, and if Nick is
 > right than no one stands to gain anything from the citations
 > either.

While Steven gave a good answer, I'd like to provide a social science
researcher's slant.

Python gets a mention.  As the politicians say, "Use all the epithets
you like, but spell my name right!"  Believe it or not, Python is
*not* a "household word" in academic business and economics fields.  A
lot of us are teaching Python by preference, but there's still a large
overhang of (mostly, but not invariably, older) researchers who only
know Java, C/C++, or FORTRAN[sic] as "scientific" programming
languages.

To researchers, a citation is a pointer to an authoritative source,
and specifically authoritative in specifying the *cited reference*,
not current versions or random "hits".  To those who don't know
anything about Python, the fact that there is an authoritative
citation gives them some confidence that Python itself is an ongoing
entity.

OTOH, web searchs are not going to give you authoritative sources.
The reasons for changing citation practice are not changes in these
social relationships, but rather

(1) changing publication channels requires changes of "pointers", and
    (in the case of many web pages which are generated dynamically) a
    more precise date of publication (ie, the date viewed)

(2) some pointers are more efficient and accurate than others, and
    they are being introduced as alternatives (often preferred) to the
    traditional ones.