Python Origins

[Oldayz]

On Fri, 08 Dec 2000 02:02:51 -0500, Peter Hansen <peter at engcorp.com> wrote:
>Curtis Jensen wrote:
>> 
>> A while back, someone wrote in and asked what a text editor was.  The
>> answers to this were polite and informative, and non-demeaning.  I'm
>> curious why this one and why others get ripped on, and others don't.
>> Luck of the draw?
>
>My first thought was like Andrei's but I actually followed those links,
>as Fredrik did, and realized it wasn't really true that Python info was
>easier to find than the other with a quick google search.
>
>So I went back to the original posting to reread it to see if I could
>understand why we reacted as we did, and whether the reaction was
>warranted.  Let's see, he said:
>
>   "I am doing some research and I would be grateful if 
>    anybody could give me some history on the origins of 
>    Python."
>
>Hmmm... My immediate gut reaction to that is "you say you are *doing
>some research* but you show absolutely no evidence of having done any
>before asking us for help".  In other words, his time is more valuable
>than ours and it isn't worth his even *trying* to find something, since
>we're sitting here waiting for his questions because we have nothing
>better to do.
>
>Had the original poster said even "I am trying to research the origins
>of Python and haven't been able to find any links that help" I suspect
>he would have received little from anyone but helpful links to the real
>thing.
>
>Those of us who have made even the mildest attempt to actually *do* such
>research have found the information rather easy to find.  Maybe not at
>the top of a search engine result, but easily found nonetheless.  I just
>tried going to www.python.org, for example, and within about thirty
>seconds found that clicking on "Documentation", then "FAQ" led me to
>http://www.python.org/doc/FAQ.html#1.15, which contains a good start.
>
>In other words, if the original poster didn't just want us to do his
>research for him, as implied, he shouldn't have suggested he hadn't done
>any himself.  Or perhaps it was simply a poor understanding of the
>sentiment of many people (some of us old-timers?) who have long since
>become tired of "do my homework" type postings.

I couldn't have said it better (and in fact, I didn't ;-) ). I guess
there is a chance that he did do research but simply forgot to mention
it, but I don't think that's too likely, especially if research has
been extensive, for then the guy would express his surprise that the
info is so hard to find!

-- 

	Andrei