REPOST: Re: Book "python programming patterns". anybody read this??

[Gordon McMillan]

Peter Milliken wrote:

> No Gordon, that's a ridiculous assumption!
> 
> Who said the code was bad? Not I! 

>From the first reply to my first post:

>>  it's probably not very good code.

And you (apparently) agreed.

> Your original email implied that you
> had to put some amount of study into understanding the examples - there
> was an implication that the examples where not straight forward and
> therefore required some considerable time and effort on your part to
> understand what was going on.

Yes.
 
> Nobody has tried to equate this with "bad code", just bad coding
> practice (in our opinion - well, Roy's and mine :-)) - a very different
> thing. 

I fail to discern the distinction, particularly as stated above.
 
> Perhaps if you take objection to our comments you should perhaps
> clarify and quantify your comments on just how much effort was required
> to understand the examples? and why? i.e. if the book is more
> "algorithmic" in nature then perhaps you cannot get away from examples
> that do take some considerable study effort - if this is the case then
> perhaps you should provide that clarification/caveat on your comment.

Already did so. From my second post:

>> The hardest thing to follow was his (highly efficient) 
>> implementation of an algorithm for computing whether one set 
>> is a subset of another. So it's not for people who don't 
>> like low-level stuff.

> Otherwise I'll have to stick with my decision (unless I stood in the
> book store and read the book! :-)). 

I have no objection to your decision. All three posts I've made have said 
that the book is not for everyone. I just don't want you (plural) to chase 
off people who could get something from the book.

Save your money. Just don't slur the book based on an unfounded inference.

-- Gordon
http://www.mcmillan-inc.com/

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From: Gordon McMillan <gmcm at hypernet.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.python
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