What's so funny? WAS Re: rotor replacement

[Paul Rubin]

Brian van den Broek <bvande at po-box.mcgill.ca> writes:
> no Python expert, just a hobbyist. But, I think I can take this one on:
> 
> Fredrik's contributed a lot to Python. The Standard Library book,
> several well know tools, and, I'd wager a finger, a fair bit of code
> in the standard lib. I don't think the community gives you a name like
> F-bot, but that you know a wee bit about how Python is actually used, etc.

If he understood how Python is actually used, he'd understand that any
C module is a lot more useful in the core than out of it.  

His lecture to me about the crypto module was bizarre and
inappropriate.  The whole purpose of that module was to fix a
deficiency of Python, namely the lack of a good crypto module in the
core, that people could use without having to install any downloaded C
modules.  If it doesn't go into the core, the deficiency isn't fixed,
so the module has failed in its purpose.  There are already tons of
3rd party crypto modules outside the core, and the module I was
writing wouldn't add anything useful to those.  It only provided
AES/DES and the basic FIPS modes, and was designed specifically to be
suitable for the core where the other modules were considered too
fancy.  Also, Guido had expressed interest in having it, before
changing heart because of the legal stuff.  Where does Frederik get
off lecturing me about wanting to get a module into the core, when
Guido had invited me to do precisely that with that very module?

Frederik has written some pretty good C modules himself, that are a
pain in the neck to use because they're not in the core, which means
that before they can be used they first have to be compiled and
installed.  If he wanted to maximize their usefulness, he'd be trying
to get them into the core.  I don't know what his goals are though.

I did release a replacement for the rotor module that's written in
Python, which means it's reasonably useable without being in the core.
However, while its security should be ok, to provide reasonable
performance it had to use a nonstandard algorithm and therefore isn't
good for interoperating with anything.  To be both acceptably fast and
interoperable with other applications, a C module is needed.