[Python-Dev] PEP: Consolidating names and classes in the unittest module (updated 2008-07-15) (original) (raw)

Rodrigo Bernardo Pimentel rbp at isnomore.net
Wed Jul 16 16:26:30 CEST 2008

On Wed, Jul 16 2008 at 10:54:26AM BRT, Ben Finney <ben+python at benfinney.id.au> wrote:

Rodrigo Bernardo Pimentel <rbp at isnomore.net> writes:

> On Tue, Jul 15 2008 at 07:38:59PM BRT, Ben Finney <ben+python at benfinney.id.au> wrote: > > The "consistency" argument leads to the PEP 8 names. The removal > > of redundant names is not made in the name of consistency, but of > > API simplicity. > > Isn't this enourmous discussion a clear sign that a lot of people > won't find a trimmed-down API simpler? The majority of this discussion hasn't been about whether or not to trim the API, so I'd have to answer no. Instead, it shows that people have different ideas of how it should be done.

Ok, I've oversimplified my sentence. In more words, what I meant was that I don't think the benefits of getting rid of assert* or fail* methods are very clear (thus my "+1" on Tres's suggestion of leaving both), and it doesn't seem to me like we're progressing in the direction of reaching an agreement (though there has been great exposition of arguments). I mean, the benefits of removing fail* seem clear for some people, but are strongly opposed by others, and even the benefits of removing assert* seem clear for some (IIRC).

All this lead to my previous sentence, which should read: isn't this enourmous discussion a clear sign that a lot of people won't find an API without fail* (or assert*) simpler? I agree there's trimming to be done, of course. I'm just saying that there's clearly no agreement on this particular point of whether to remove fail* completely, so maybe we should take it as as indication that it might not actually simplify the API (in the sense of how comfortable people are with using it).

> If assert* to fail* mapping is consistent, then voilá, simple, > everyone can remember method names (+1 for PEP-8 renaming), everyone > is free to think of each test as they please.

Thanks for the feedback.

No problem! It's great to be in a community where these things are so openly discussed :)

rbp

-- Rodrigo Bernardo Pimentel <rbp at isnomore.net> | GPG: <0x0DB14978>

More information about the Python-Dev mailing list