[Python-Dev] Best practice for documentation for std lib (original) (raw)

Barry Warsaw barry at python.org
Sun Sep 22 17:49:33 CEST 2013

On Sep 22, 2013, at 10:34 AM, Brett Cannon wrote:

The rule of thumb I go by is the docstring should be enough to answer the question "what args does this thing take and what does it do in general to know it's the function I want and another one in the same module?" quickly and succinctly; i.e. just enough so that help() reminds you about details for a module you are already familiar with that might come up while at the interpreter prompt. Everything else -- in-depth discussion of the algorithms, extra examples, why you want to use this function, etc. -- all go in the .rst docs.

That's exactly my own rule of thumb too, so +1.

-Barry

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