[Python-Dev] Changes to PEP 327: Decimal data type (original) (raw)

Greg Ewing greg at cosc.canterbury.ac.nz
Wed Mar 17 19:57:11 EST 2004

It IS consistant as I read it:

Function Names

Plain functions exported by a module can either use the CapWords style or lowercase (or lowercasewithunderscores). There is no strong preference, but it seems that the CapWords style is used for functions that provide major functionality...

In other words, this so-called style guide doesn't guide us much at all in this area. :-(

Although it's true that examples of all sorts of styles can be found in the standard library, from skimming through the index of the Library Reference, it seems that the vast majority of function and method names are either alllowercase or lowercase_with_underscores.

This agrees with my general impression that the oldest and most fundamental parts of the language and library seem to use this style. If I were to identify anything as the "Python style" for naming, this would be it.

Rather than wimping out on the issue, I think this PEP could perhaps show some leadership and help guide people towards some kind of consistent naming style. Just because a hodgepodge has made its way into the library in the past doesn't mean we should keep doing things that way.

Greg Ewing, Computer Science Dept, +--------------------------------------+ University of Canterbury, | A citizen of NewZealandCorp, a | Christchurch, New Zealand | wholly-owned subsidiary of USA Inc. | greg at cosc.canterbury.ac.nz +--------------------------------------+

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