[SNIP]Michele Simionato wrote [on c.l.py]:
Brett Cannon:
[... python-dev summary ... boilerplate change ...]
Sorry, but i have to disagree. I hope you won't take this reply personally, Michele, since it's directed to all c.l.py readers, as well as (particularly) at Python users who [unlike you] are mostly take and rather less give. Although this is inherently the nature of open source, in certain cases this can be taken too far.
+1 for this idea. The summary looks much better now :) Keep the good work going,
Now, the reason for this specific rant is this: I can tell a cry for help when I see one. Brett has done a magnificent job of providing python-dev summaries since Andrew decided he'd had enough, and he is to be congratulated for it. I managed to offload another bunch of work on him (moderation of various troublesome PyCon mailing lists), but at least I was able to recompense him by letting him into PyCon for nothing.[SNIP]
But frankly, I think it's time someone else stood up and said "Brett, you've done a magnificent job. Hesitant though I am about replacing you, I would like to volunteer for the task, because only when you are free from the burden of writing the python-dev summaries will we see what else you are capable of". Since I am at best an intermittent reader of python-dev I can say this without fear of having to stand up myself.
[SNIP]
[I am going to use this to reply to both Steve and Martin]
As Steve mentioned above, he can spot a cry for help when he sees one. I think the problem is that I am a total sucker when it comes to the Python community and python-dev.
Anyone who has been on the python-dev list for as long as I have been a participant has most likely seen my almost yearly "thank you" emails I send the list (which there will probably be another one of once I choose where I am going to pursue my doctorate; I have acceptances but I am still waiting to here back from 9 more schools). Usually it is just me gushing to python-dev, thanking the list for how Python has gotten me where I am today. And that statement is completely sincere; python-dev has sculpted me into the programmer that I am (does this mean I can blame python-dev for my own buggy code? =). And for that I will be eternally grateful to all of the wonderful people I have gotten to work with and know on this list.
It has also made me want to help people to get involved on python-dev in hopes others would benefit from python-dev the same way I have. Granted, python-dev tends not to attract people like I was when I started getting involved (a philosophy degree and 4 CS courses does not equal a good programmer by default =), but I have always hoped that through my efforts some other people could come to enjoy hacking on Python, learn some things, and advance the language.
But I think the big problem is that the Summaries have become a "gift" in the truest sense of the word. I lost all personal benefit from the Summaries over a year ago. Initially I learned a ton from all of the reading I was doing and the research required to understand what the heck people were talking about. But I have graduated from "The School of Hard Knocks". At this point I do the Summaries entirely altruistically, giving back what I can to the community in a way that I know benefits many people which happens to have zero benefit to me now.
The Summaries consume what little free time I do have for Python which is unfortunate. I have always hoped I would get to the point in my programming abilities that I would be a larger asset to python-dev as a programmer than as a writer. I would like to think I have reached that point finally after my over two and a half years on the list (I can't believe I first posted to the list on June 17, 2002!).
So, to make sure I don't squander what time I do have for Python waiting for a possible replacement that might never come, I have decided that I am going to stop doing the python-dev Summaries after PyCon; the Summary covering the last half of March 2005 will be it for me. Hopefully I will be more valuable as an active participant on python-dev again instead of as a passive listener who just happens to chime in on occasion and squash a simple bug when I am procrastinating from doing my homework.
This has been a long time coming and I needed a swift kick in the ass to finally get me to stop. I thank you, Steve, for giving me that kick like the English gentleman you are. =)
-Brett -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
