[Python-Dev] query: docstring formatting in python distutils code (original) (raw)

Brett Cannon brett at python.org
Fri Jul 9 20:55:03 CEST 2010

On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 06:28, Barry Warsaw <barry at python.org> wrote:

On Jul 07, 2010, at 12:50 PM, Brett Cannon wrote:

On Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 11:46, Antoine Pitrou <solipsis at pitrou.net> wrote: On Wed, 7 Jul 2010 14:12:17 -0400 Barry Warsaw <barry at python.org> wrote:

On Jul 07, 2010, at 07:30 PM, Georg Brandl wrote:

>Overall, I think that we can make stdlib docstrings valid reST -- >even if it's reST without much markup -- but valid, so that people >pulling in stdlib doc- strings into Sphinx docs won't get ugly >warnings. > >What I would not like to see is heavy markup and Sphinx >specifics -- that would only make sense if we included the >docstrings in the docs, and I don't see that coming. Does it make sense to add (reST-style) epydoc markup for API signatures? E.g. It really looks ugly (and annoying to decipher) when viewed in plain text. I agree. And it is highly repetitive since the signature information is right there already. All of that info in those annotations can easily be written in paragraph form if needed and honestly would read better to my eyes. I actually find it easier to glean the signature details from a regularized docstring than from prose.  Especially for autogenerated API documentation, the formal specification lends a consistency to the output that prose doesn't often provide.  IME, there isn't much (unnecessary) repeating yourself.

The key point there is "autogenerated API documentation", which Python does not do.

Either way, we need to be diligent in accurately describing the signature and semantics of our APIs.

Of course.

I think this is going to be something our crazy FLUFL likes but the kids don't. =)

-Brett

-Barry

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