[Apologies if this gets mis-threaded; I'm switching between Gmane and the mailing list address.]
> On Dec 1, 2010, at 1:20 AM, Eli Barzilay wrote: > >>> >>> Examples: comparing Python's help function to Racket's as a tool for >>> introspecting objects at the REPL >>> [...] >>>> (define (f x y) >>> (+ x y)) >>>> (help f) >>> Not found in any library's documentation: f >> >> This is because you didn't document it. Yes, right. This was perhaps not the best illustration. I don't think it would be terribly useful to read documentation (per se) about functions defined at the REPL. I meant to illustrate that calling help on a procedure object in Python gives you a certain amount of information (regardless of whether the author has documented it or not), including the module it is defined in and its required and optional arguments. Is there a way to get this kind of information in Racket at the REPL, regardless of whether or not the author has been scrupulous in documenting her work? > I wonder whether help could display contracts if the module use > provide/contract to export f. This is exactly the kind of thing I would find useful. Or perhaps I should say: it is the kind of thing I have found useful in the past. The spirit of my original question was meant to be: given that I found this useful in the past, what's the right way of translating that experience to programming in Racket? Should I be looking for a way to do similar things in Racket, or should I be revising the way I think about and use the documentation system? It seems like the answer is, "both." Best, Richard _________________________________________________ For list-related administrative tasks: http://lists.racket-lang.org/listinfo/users
