On Sun, Jan 08, 2006 at 01:35:16PM +0100, "Martin v. Löwis" wrote:
>  Thomas Wouters wrote:
>  > Yet if it isn't recorded, people will keep bringing it up. How about a
>  > 'rejected ideas' PEP for ideas that are right out no matter how people
>  > argue?
>  Recorded it is, in the mailing list archive.

>  However, a central place might be better, preferably with referrals to
>  pronouncements or other discussion. A Wiki comes to mind...

My point isn't that it isn't archived somewhere (mailinglists, wiki, FAQ,
the minds of many, many people, not just Python developers) but that it
isn't easily findable and it isn't easily accessible in a single location. I
thought PEP's where supposed to be that, and if I have a particular idea for
new syntax or new semantics, PEPs would be the place I'd look, not the FAQ
or a Wiki. I guess a Wiki'd work, but then I wonder, why aren't all PEPs in
a Wiki instead? At least until they are actually accepted, after which they
get finalized and formalized and implemented and what not. (I'm not a fan of
Wiki's, but that may be because I've seen too many chaotic, unstructured,
messy, unmaintained ones.)

And I would like to point out how hard it is to google or grep for ideas
like this. For instance, the 'x, y, *rest = someseq' syntax. I wouldn't know
what to call it (or what others would call it, and you can't google for the
syntax (since the variables can be named anything). Grepping through
downloaded mailinglist archives might find you some discussion, but probably
without any indication whether anything is final or current. Grepping
through the PEPs might find you something, if it's PEP'ed, but it's a lot
easier to browse the list of (non-accepted/implemented) PEPs. You may not
know the name of the construct you're looking for, but someone else's name
for it would likely ring a bell. And a PEP titled 'Rejected Ideas' would
certainly be the first place to look ;)

-- 
Thomas Wouters <thomas@[...].net> 

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