[Tutor] python libraries online

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Thu, Jun 19, 2014 at 12:59:58PM +0000, Ian D wrote:
> What does top post mean?

It means posting at the top of the reply, just as you have done here.

When you reply to an email, the comments you are replying to are quoted 
with greater-than signs > at the start of each line. There are three 
basic places to insert your replies to the comments being quoted: at the 
top, at the bottom, and interleaved through the middle.

Here is an example. Suppose I write an email asking two questions:

    Hello, how long should I boil a soft-boiled egg?
    And how many eggs in a dozen?


(I didn't say they were *good* questions.) You reply, and my comments are quoted:

    === This is top-posting ===

    Oh, about 3 minutes, depending on the size of the egg.
    Twelve eggs.

    Steven asked:
    > Hello, how long should I boil a soft-boiled egg?
    > And how many eggs in a dozen?


    === This is bottom-posting ===

    Steven asked:
    > Hello, how long should I boil a soft-boiled egg?
    > And how many eggs in a dozen?

    Oh, about 3 minutes, depending on the size of the egg.
    Twelve eggs.
   

    === This is interleaved posting ===

    Steven asked:
    > Hello, how long should I boil a soft-boiled egg?

    Oh, about 3 minutes, depending on the size of the egg.

    > And how many eggs in a dozen?

    Twelve eggs.

    ===================================


For detailed, complicated discussions where people are replying to 
multiple points, interleaved posting is by far the best. It is like 
carrying on a conversation:

    > Question
    Answer
    > Question
    Answer
    > Point
    Counter-point
    > Question
    Answer


The context for each answer is right there, next to the answer. It makes 
the email *much* easier to follow when things get technical and 
complicated.

Top-posting and bottom-posting are okay for short, trivial responses 
where the context is not very important, but sadly they also get used by
lazy writers who don't care about the people reading the email.

(I hope I do not offend, but I've been dealing with email for close to 
20 years and in my experience there are a lot of lazy writers. If you've 
ever asked somebody four questions in an email, and they've fired off a 
reply answering one of them and ignoring the other three, you will know 
what I mean.)

Top-posting encourages short, snappy responses, where the context can 
be inferred from the subject line or the first few sentences of the 
quoted comments:


    Okay see you there.
    > Hey Bill, meet us at the pub tonight?


    2pm
    > Sue, what time is the meeting today?


    Yes.
    > Do you want the 2TB hard drive or a 1TB hard drive?    


But for technical discussions, short, snappy responses are often not 
very good. A *discussion* may go back and forth over many different 
points, not just one or two sentence replies. For this reason, in 
technical forums like this one, interleaved posting is MUCH preferred.



-- 
Steven