On Sat, May 13, 2017 at 4:05 AM, <jlada...@itu.edu> wrote: > On Friday, May 12, 2017 at 3:02:58 AM UTC-7, Steve D'Aprano wrote: > >> (1) Table of functions/classes at the start of each module doc >> >> The docs for builtins starts with a table of built-in functions: >> >> https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html >> >> >> Docs for other modules should do similar... > > I agree with this suggestion. I usually know what I want out of a module, > but I don't know the exact name(s) of the relevant function(s). Frequently, > I find myself looking through the docs... and in parallel, I start a Python > interpreter, type "import foo", and then "dir(foo)" to see everything that > the module foo contains. >
While I don't disagree with the docs suggestion, it's worth noting that dir(foo) is a powerful feature, and part of what makes Python so awesome. So don't be afraid to use it :) TBH I'm +0.5 on the table; if it includes absolutely everything the module offers, it'll be unworkably large on some modules, but if it doesn't, how do you pick which are the "important" ones? Possibly this is the right solution for most modules, but there'll be a few special cases (eg argparse) that prefix it with "hey, check out this quick start guide first". ChrisA -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
