[Python-ideas] Support WHATWG versions of legacy encodings

Chris Barker chris.barker at noaa.gov
Wed Jan 31 18:15:08 EST 2018


On Wed, Jan 31, 2018 at 9:48 AM, Serhiy Storchaka <storchaka at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hm. As a user, unless I run into problems with a specific encoding, I
>> never care about how many encodings we have, so I don't see how adding
>> extra encodings bothers those users who have no need for them.
>>
>
> The codecs module documentation contains several tables of encodings:
> standard encodings, Python-specific text encodings, binary transforms and
> text transforms (a single one). This will add yet one large table. The user
> that learn Python will need to learn the difference of these encodings from
> others encodings and how to use them correctly. The new user doesn't know
> what is important for he, and what he can ignore until he will need it (and
> how to know that he needs it).


no new user to Python is going ot study the entire set of built-in encoding
in Python to decide what is useful to them -- no one!

New (and experienced) users take the opposite approach -- they need an
encoding for one reason or another (they are provided data to a service
that requires a particular encoding, or they are reading data in another
particular encoding). They then look at the built-in encoding to see if the
one they want is there. A slightly larger set to look through is a very
small burden, particularly if it's properly documented and has all the
common synonyms.

I still have no ide4a why there is such resistance to this -- yes, it's a
fairly small benefit over a package no PyPi, but there is also virtually no
downside.

(I'm assuming the OP (or someone) will do all the actual work of coding and
updating docs....)

Practicality Beats Purity -- and this is a practical solution.

sigh.

-CHB



-- 

Christopher Barker, Ph.D.
Oceanographer

Emergency Response Division
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Chris.Barker at noaa.gov
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