[stdlib-sig] Breaking out the stdlib

[M.-A. Lemburg]

Frank Wierzbicki wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 1:06 PM, Michael Foord <michael at voidspace.org.uk> wrote:
>> No-one argues that the standard library should evolve quickly but there do
>> seem to be those arguing that it should *never* evolve.
> I'll add my voice against the folks who want the stdlib to never
> evolve.  Java's standard library provides a nice cautionary example.

I don't think anyone has voiced such an opinion. There are different
views on what "evolve" should mean and when to apply what actions,
though.

Replacing prefectly fine working code just for the fun of it, does
not count much as argument for evolving the stdlib.

There have to be really good reasons to drop an existing tested and
proven solution in favor of a new implementation that only adds one
or two tricks to the set of already available features, but at the
same time breaks the published API.

The bar is a lot lower for modifying existing modules, e.g. to
enhance or add functionality:

http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0387/

BTW and just because this line gets misquoted so often: the Zen
says "There should be one -- and preferably only one -- obvious way
to do it." ... People tend to forget the "obvious" in that line.

There is often more than one way to look at a problem, so it's
not against the Zen to have more than one implementation to tackle
a certain problem in the stdlib.

A good example of this is the XML package of the stdlib: the modules
all work on XML, but each in its own separate way, specifically
designed with a certain approach in mind.

The urllibs are another example: they both allow accessing URLs
in various ways, but the way they are adapted to fit a particular
need is completely different.

-- 
Marc-Andre Lemburg
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