python-dev summary, Jan. 16-31

[Andrew Kuchling]

"Andrew Dalke" <dalke at acm.org> writes:
> The first mention on c.l.py on function attributes was from Jan. 24
>  http://www.deja.com/[ST_rn=ps]/getdoc.xp?AN=719772745&fmt=text
> even though, yes, the PEP was created on Dec. 2.

I meant python-dev discussion here; clearly the PEPs aren't visible
enough in c.l.p.

> about.  To contribute to a thread, I would need to catch up
> on the mailing list to see what arguments have been presented,
> then bring up my questions or objections.  But it would be
> about two weeks late, which means people may have already
> decided on what to do, and making changes is more likely to
> be frowned upon.

Two weeks late is a bit annoying, but it's much less annoying than
only finding out about objections when the first alpha ships, months
later!  Note that you *can* send messages to python-dev; only
subscription is limited.

> So I really place the problem on the main python-dev people
> who don't bother to disseminate their ideas to the broader
> audience of people who develop a lot of Python code but
> aren't language designers.

Indeed.  I'm increasingly worried that python-dev is becoming too
insular, working on things while the community is unaware of what's
coming.  The fixes for this seem to be:

* Announce PEP drafts and status changes to c.l.py.announce
* Write a set of introductory pages for Python development (this has been 
  brought up before).
* A read-only alias for python-dev would be useful for several people, but 
  may require serious Mailman hackery (I don't know).

Any other suggestions?

--amk