[Python-Dev] Searching Python docs (Was: Python sidebar forMozilla/Netscape) (original) (raw)

David Ascher DavidA@ActiveState.com
Fri, 05 Apr 2002 20:51:52 -0800

Tim Peters wrote:

Sure. Packing over 1,000 HTML files into the installer bloats it too

Indeed. ActivePython's installer is significantly bigger than the Pythonlabs installer, because we have a lot more docs in there (not just the Pythonlabs docs -- the PyWin32 docs, others.). Our installer seems to do a good job of compression, but it's still a lot of text.

Possibly, but the idea that a new software process involving many megabytes of data won't create new time sinks isn't credible to me. Fred takes pride in the appearance of his docs, so won't want to let small points slide either.

There is indeed flexibility in having the two-phase release cycle, which sees Fred updating the docs several times per binary-release-cycle. That's nice, given that the documentation naturally lags implementation (and will as long as the product is managed by developers =).

Also, figuring out how to create HTML files which look good on the website, in HtmlHelp and in regular browsers is a real pain for people like me who don't understand why browsers simply had to be so incompatible =).

> Many of them will no doubt refuse to RTFM, but for those who will, > providing them with the docs in .chm format (and actively promoting it) > might cut down on the "support cost" of the traffic on c.l.py.

Perhaps ActiveState could address that from experience.

We spend a lot of time and effort making all of our tools as self-sufficient as possible. We also do a lot of work so that the website (ASPN.ActiveState.com) provides as much help on both products and technologies as possible, since when that fails, we incur developer and support staff work, which doesn't scale and costs a lot.

I'm not sure that that equation is particularly relevant for Pythonlabs, though -- most of the questions on c.l.py are answered by non-Pythonlabers, so the benefit of investing in a somewhat better distro isn't really apparent to the bottom line, while the development cost is. Pythonlabs doesn't have an obligation to answer every question sent to python-list -- that burden is carried quite well by the community, as it always has, and as it should be.

It may sound weird to mention the bottom line w.r.t. how an open source project is run, but a big reason Python is where it is is because someone (in practice, several someones) have paid Guido et al. to do this work. So the bottom line matters -- and it is important for Python's long-term future that the Pythonlabers take the responsibility of thinking about where they spend their time as seriously as they do.

This week, it may seem to Pythonlabers that the users are being cranky and whining (this is not directed at John's post, just at the general tenor of comp.lang.python in the last few days). I want to publically state that I think the Pythonlabs folks are doing an admirable job, above and beyond the call of duty. Python is evolving faster than it did in the middle-early days (I expect the versions before 1.2 evolved very fast), and our community is growing as a result. The growth is a strong sign of health, and seems to indicate that the language evolution is overall in the positive, niche-expanding direction. I am convinced that some recent developments such as the better release management, the filling in of the standard library and documentation, the cleanup and maturing of the language are all factors which overall much outweigh the pains that some feel with respect to managing multi-version code bases or coping with language evolution.

At the end of the day, Python is still just as fun to program in as it ever was.

--David "cheerleader" Ascher