PEP scepticism

[Tim Peters]

[Martijn Faassen]
> ...
> And as I suggested in my post, if standard library development is indeed
> not part of the primary sets of interests of the core developers,

I'm not sure Guido expressed himself clearly enough there.  All the core
developers have done major work on the libraries, so that's not a hangup.
What is a hangup is that people also want stuff the current group of core
developers has no competence (and/or sometimes interest) to write.  Like SSL
support on Windows, or IPv6 support, etc.  Expert-level work in a field
requires experts in that field to contribute.  We also need a plan to keep
their stuff running after they go away again, the lack of which is one
strong reason Guido resists adding stuff to the library.

> perhaps it would be good to set up an semi-formal group that *does*
> treat this as their 'core business' (manage core library development
> and perhaps even independent releases) A library-SIG, perhaps?

Start by adding some meat to PEP 2.

> In general, the idea is that perhaps we don't have hundreds of Andrew
> Kuchlings (to quote Tim) is because there is no place or group to
> attract them. A bit of a chicken and egg problem, of course. :)

Part of what makes Andrew Andrew is that he didn't wait for anyone to take
him by the hand and tell him what to do.  He saw things that needed to be
done, and *did* them, fighting when necessary to get his work out into the
world.  That's how things get accomplished -- committees and study groups
and Usenet debates don't; even the Python SIGs have, overall, a poor track
record on delivering results (with notable exceptions).  You don't need a
group; you need someone able to work and motivated enough to do it without
being pushed.

you-do-it-for-the-glory-or-not-at-all-ly y'rs  - tim