Bob wrote:
Now, what about the newbies, the new blood? The folks who are complete newcomers to Python and/or to programming in general?
Personally, I'd rather not be bothered catering to that class of users.
Well, I know _you're_ not - that's why the Universe inflicted me upon you, as a form of karmic balance. ;)
Still, it's a general question, open to all, and I'm curious to see what perspectives other folks can bring.
I'm more inclined to expand what is possible in the first place (in my spare time anyway)... with occasional bouts of cleaning things up and hand-holding (writing documentation, speaking at PyCon, doing a tutorial now and then, answering the mailing lists, setting up websites, releasing software, etc.).
All of which is hugely appreciated, of course. While I might not doff my cap at every encounter, I'd be the first to acknowledge that you're one of major backbones to MacPython; and without folk like you and Jack and Ronald to support it, it probably wouldn't exist.
All the same, I would suggest one small caveat: when developing material intended specifically for the standard library, one should deal with the users one gets, rather than the users one might ideally like. One of Python's great features many other languages, for example, is that it doesn't by design exclude those who _don't_ know what they're doing; and IMO anyone contributing to the language or standard library should feel a certain, shall we say, 'moral obligation' to respect and uphold that position, even if it's not something they have an ideological interest in themselves.
Cheers,
has -- http://freespace.virgin.net/hamish.sanderson/ _______________________________________________ Pythonmac-SIG maillist - Pythonmac-SIG@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pythonmac-sig
