Hansen, Mike wrote:
On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 12:01 PM, Dotan Cohen
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
2008/8/21 Kent Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
Chapters 2 and 3 of the library reference are highly recommended.
http://docs.python.org/lib/lib.html
Let's start from there. I need the startswith() function,
but I do not
know it's name. I search for "strings" and find this:
4. String Services
* 4.1 string -- Common string operations
o 4.1.3 String functions
You went too far. Look at 3.6 (Sequence types) and 3.6.1 (String
Methods). Those document operations that work on all types of
sequences and the methods of the string type. That's 99% of what
you'll need to know about python strings. Kent was pretty specific
about looking at chapter two and three of the library reference. Why
did you start with chapter four instead?
But on that page, this is all there is:
"""
The following functions are available to operate on string
and Unicode
objects. They are not available as string methods.
...
So Python has only two string functions? That's what it looks like.
There are only two (non-deprecated) functions in the string module.
Thanks, Kent. I will be a nuisance! Is there any place to suggest
improvements to the docs? I see on the python.org site it
is suggested
to email website bugs to the site admin. Does that go for
the docs? I
am not the one to improve them at this time, as I am unfamiliar with
the language, but I could report usability issues such as that
mentioned here.
I believe that doc bugs (and suggestions for improvements) are tracked
on the python bug tracker (http://bugs.python.org/). If you're going
to submit doc patches, you may want to take a look at
http://docs.python.org/dev/3.0/ which I believe is the beta of the new
documentation layout for python 3.0. I'm not sure how much the actual
contents have changed from the 2.x docs though. I notice that the
section on the string module does now refer you back to the methods of
string and sequences in general, which the current docs do not.
--
Jerry
_______________________________________________
I can't put my finger on it, but there's something lacking in the
docs. They are not terrible, but they aren't fantastic either. I'm not
entirely sure what I'd do to fix them. I usually rely on Learning
Python, The Python Standard Library, the Global Module Index section
of the docs, and sometimes Python in a Nutshell. I need to get in the
habit of using help in the shell. Sometimes the docs for a particular
module might be a little obtuse for me especially if it doesn't have
example code. That's where The Python Standard Library book comes in
handy since it has example code. After experimenting in the shell, if
I really get stuck, I'll ask on this list. Maybe having tags or
something to help with searches. On the string methods page, have a
tag called "string functions". I don't think many new to the language
are going to know that they are called "string methods" and not "string
functions". I guess it depends on what language they are coming from
if any at all.
Python Manuals are pretty good from my POV. You go to "Index" tab and
type "string", the first entry will get you to the "String Methods"
page. Just a matter of seconds.
What I find lacking in the docs are a link to a code example for every
item and a "See Also" link to other related items. With some modules I
can't make sense of the different bits and pieces till I see a code
example, and I think this would be the greatest improvement to the
actually very good docs.
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