A.M. Kuchling wrote: > Bryan Olson wrote: > >>I use dir() all the time; help() not so much. Typing help(help) >>shows: >> >> Help on _Helper in module site: >> >> Type help() for interactive help, or help(object) for help >> about object. >> >>That strikes me as not-particularly-helpful. Surely it should at >>least direct the user to 'pydoc.help'. > > help *is* pydoc.help, or at least a trivial wrapper around it, so I don't > see the purpose of mentioning that.
The purpose of mentioning it would be to, well, to tell the user. [...] > What additions to that string would you suggest? Since "help *is* pydoc.help, or at least...", the call could show the same thing as help(pydoc.help), or at least inform the user that more of the story is available from help(pydoc.help). >>Three weeks ago, in trying to explain a point about Python's >>zlib module, I discovered that the doc was wrong. >> http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/20609fff71a2ed02 > > I don't think I'd change the Python docs to try to explain this, How about to fix the error? > because I > have no confidence that we can get the details correct. BerkeleyDB, curses, > and the 'os' module pose similar problems. For example, people sometimes > ask for more detail about POSIX functions, but no one wants to write a > Python-specific version of "Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment". Options include copying doc from zlib.h, or telling the user to look up the flags in the real doc. -- --Bryan -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
