[Python-Dev] A suggestion: Do proto-PEPs in Google Docs (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido at python.org
Sat Feb 21 17:36:09 CET 2009

On Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 6:25 AM, <rdmurray at bitdance.com> wrote:

On Sat, 21 Feb 2009 at 01:12, Jeff Hall wrote:

Not that I'm expecting to be working on PEPs any time soon, but just as a different perspective, I would find the effort to open up Google docs to be a much higher barrier to doing some editing tweaks than the dvcs case. For the DVCS, I'd just write a little script that would (1) update (2) open the editor on the file (3) do the commit/push dance when the file was closed. So for me it would be as easy as editing the file locally. So for my work style, a DVCS would be the biggest win. --RDM That's funny because I would expect that for most people it's the exact opposite... just create a gmail account... boom, done... I'm not necessarily advocating that but just saying that IMO, most people will find google docs to be the "fastest" and "easiest" solution. The ease of creating a gmail account has nothing to do with the point to which I was responding (context which is lost from your reply). That's setup. I was responding to a point talking about in-the-moment workflow. A browser and a GUI javascript program are slower than a unix command line based editor such as vim or emacs both to open up and to use. Thus for me, by using a script to automate the part that the OP suggested would slow the dvcs user down (the update/commit/push cycle), I make the dvcs in-the-moment workflow much faster for me than Google Docs. As I said it's a matter of personal style. Some people will find Google Docs easier and more productive than a dvcs. My point was that not all people will.

That's a discussion that can never come to a decent conclusion. We will never find a solution that works for everyone, and IMO we don't need to bend over backwards to try. I don't doubt for a second that for most people the barrier to using Google Docs is less than the barrier to using a DVCS, even if when you take a sampling of hard core open source developers that might not be so clear-cut.

-- --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)

More information about the Python-Dev mailing list