Need better string methods

David MacQuigg dmq at gain.com
Mon Mar 8 14:30:52 EST 2004


On Sun, 7 Mar 2004 13:16:22 -0800, "Robert Brewer" <fumanchu at amor.org>
wrote:
>benjamin schollnick wrote:
>>    I am assuming your running into these lines on a regular basis, so
>> make a wrapper around your python function...  Call it "Cleanup" or
>> "Parse_bar_line_string" or something that makes sense to your
>> users, and have them call that function....
>
>Well said. Even though you (David) are ostensibly providing coding
>tools, you need to approach it from an interface-design point-of-view.
>That is, you need to find the perfect balance between power and
>simplicity, then throw that estimate away and dumb it down by a factor
>of 10 (for non-engineers, 100 ;). Most people don't want more expressive
>tools; a sure way to burn yourself out is trying to provide them. Find
>the smallest set of actions your users can get by with, then build,
>test, listen!, improve. Repeat as necessary. Bask in job security.

Ah yes.  For many years I basked.  I kept telling myself, "Just go
with the flow.  Don't fight for the user and annoy all the experts.
Just learn all the tricks and enjoy my job security."  But the
frustration got to be too much, so I set off to brave the storm in my
little boat.  Now I am working without pay, guided by my faith that I
can provide tools that will put the design engineer in control.  I
know it can be done.  I just don't know if the non-technical issues
are going to be overwhelming.

As to your point above, I think I agree.  Simple is more important
than compact or elegant.  I just wish we had both on these string
operations.

-- Dave




More information about the Python-list mailing list