Windows, IDLE, __doc_, other

[Alf P. Steinbach]

* Alf P. Steinbach:
> * W. eWatson:
>> When I use numpy.__doc__ in IDLE under Win XP, I get a heap of words 
>> without reasonable line breaks.
>>
>> "\nNumPy\n=====\n\nProvides\n  1. An array object of arbitrary 
>> homogeneous items\n  2. Fast mathematical operations over arrays\n  3. 
>> Linear Algebra, Fourier Transforms, Random Number
>> ...
>>
>> Is there a way to get this formated properly.
> 
> print( numpy.__doc__ )
> 
> (For Python 2.x you can and best should leave out the parenthesis)
> 
> 
>> If I use dir(numpy), I get yet a very long list that starts as:
>> ['ALLOW_THREADS', 'BUFSIZE', 'CLIP', 'DataSource', 'ERR_CALL', 
>> 'ERR_DEFAULT', 'ERR_DEFAULT2', 'ERR_IGNORE', 'ERR_LOG', 'ERR_PRINT', 
>> 'ERR_RAISE', 'ERR_WARN', 'FLOATING_POINT_SUPPORT', 'FPE_DIVIDEBYZERO', 
>> 'FPE_INVALID', 'FPE_OVERFLOW', 'FPE_UNDERFLOW', 'False_', 'Inf', 
>> 'Infinity', 'MAXDIMS', 'MachAr', 'NAN', 'NINF', 'NZERO', 'NaN', 
>> 'PINF', 'PZERO', 'PackageLoader', 'RAISE', 'RankWarning', 
>> 'SHIFT_DIVIDEBYZERO', 'SHIFT_INVALID', 'SHIFT_OVERFLOW', 
>> 'SHIFT_UNDERFLOW', 'ScalarType', 'Tester', 'True_', 
>> 'UFUNC_BUFSIZE_DEFAULT'
>> ...
>> I see this might be a dictionary. What can I do to make it more 
>> readable or useful, or is that it? Is there a more abc as in Linux?
> 
> Something like (off the cuff, fix if eroRs!)
> 
>   for name in dir[numpy]:
>       if name.startswith( "_" ):
>           pass
>       else:
>           doc_lines = getattr( numpy, name ).__doc__.split()

Uh oh, 'splitlines' not 'split' !


>           print( format( "{0:25} {1}".format( name, doc_lines[0] ) )
> 
> Should ideally work whether you use Python 2.x or 3.x.
> 
> But as mentioned I just typed that in so there may be eroRs.
> 
> 
>> It the IDLE shell, it's not possible to retrieve lines entered earlier 
>> without copying them. Is there an edit facility?
> 
> I suggest you download a programmers' editor (like Notepad++ or PsPad) 
> for programming work and use the basic Python interpreter for 
> interactive work. The basic interpreter lives in a standard Window 
> console window where you can use up and down arrow keys, F8 completion, 
> F7 for list of earlier commands, etc (as documented by the doskey 
> command in the Windows command interpreter). Just forget IDLE in 
> windows: while Windows console windows are something from the middle 
> ages, IDLE seems to stem from a period before that! <g>
> 
> 
> Cheers & hth.,
> 
> - Alf
> 
> PS: Shameless plug: take a look at <url: 
> http://tinyurl.com/programmingbookP3>, it's for Windows.