Python docs disappointing

[Mohan Parthasarathy]

I am a newbie and about a month old with Python. There is a wealth of
material about Python and I am really enjoying learning Python.

One thing that could have helped Python documentation is that instead of the
very "raw" doc string, it could have used something like PythonDoc (java doc
style) so that the functions/classes are documented better. At least I am
planning to use PythonDoc for the code that I am going to write. Let me know
if there is a better one..

-mohan

On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 1:10 PM, kj <no.email at please.post> wrote:

>
>
>
> I'm pretty new to Python, and I like a lot overall, but I find the
> documentation for Python rather poor, overall.
>
> I'm sure that Python experts don't have this problem: they have
> internalized some good ways to access the documentation, are
> productive with it, and therefore have lost the ability to see why
> the Python documentations is deficient for beginners.  This explains
> why a suboptimal situation can persist like this: those who are
> most able fix it are also the least able to perceive it.
>
> I've heard similar complaints from other experienced programmers
> who are trying out Python for the first time: poor documentation.
>
> Here is an *entirely typical* example: on some Unix, try
>
> % pydoc urllib
>
> The displayed documentation mention the optional parameter "data"
> in practically every function listed (a few dozen of them).  This
> parameter is not documented *anywhere* on that page.  All that we
> are told is that its default value is always None.
>
> I'm sure that I can find a full description of this parameter if
> I fire up Google, and search online.  In fact, more likely than
> not, I'll find far more documentation than I want.  But my point
> is that a programmer should not need to do this.  The full
> documentation should be readily accessible directly through a few
> keystrokes.
>
> I would love to know how experienced Python programmers quickly
> zero in on the Python documentation they need.
>
> TIA!
>
> kynn
> --
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
>
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