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Yeah, Python docs need to stop using variable names like 'spam' & 'eggs', Monty Python's too jokey, no room for it in docs
by __s 9y ago
Yeah, Python docs need to stop using variable names like 'spam' & 'eggs', Monty Python's too jokey, no room for it in docs
- djsumdog 9y agoI think that's a little different. Even with the fun variable names, the Python docs are pretty damn professional. They haven't always been that way. The Python docs back around 2000 were not that great. A lot of work has been put in by people in the community to get them to the state they're in.
- dfox 9y agoPython docs are very good and professional, but somewhat chaotic unless you have pretty good grasp on what belongs where. Just last friday I tried to find authoritative definition of the leading underscore mangling behavior in the docs and was not able to do so.
- geofft 9y agoIf you genuinely believe that these are comparable situations (and you're not just making a strained comparison to argue in favor of the side you favor), I'm not sure how to explain my position to you. Although I think I would start by saying this: where "spam" and "eggs" is used in Python, it is in the place of any other word, usually a nonsense word like "foo" or "bar", and its presence does not distract. I doubt anyone thinks of actual SPAM or actual eggs when they run across it, and I seriously doubt the documentation authors intended or expected anyone to. The (so-called) joke in this glibc discussion is a) essentially a pun on the name of the function, i.e., introducing mental confusion; b) a political subject; c) an ill-explained reference to a political subject (did you know it's about the global gag rule? do you know what the global gag rule is?); d) intended to make you think about that subject instead of tuning it out. Python's use of "spam" and "eggs" adds some character, that's about it. (Python's insistence on "eggs" and "wheels" and "cheeseshop", on the other hand... I find the names cute but if you wanted to get rid of them all in favor of slightly more descriptive words, I'd honestly be in favor.) This joke serves no purpose other than, at best, to distract the attention of the person looking up documentation onto a completely different subject.
- MrsRobot 9y agoNot the same thing. "spam" & "eggs" are very neutral. If they used politically charged terms, and inserted example code like "if brains(republicans) == 0 # always true!" then the situation would be similar. The difference is between neutral light-heartedness and non-neutral political message.
- pferde 9y agoHow do you know which words will and will not become politically charged in fourty years?
- geofft 9y agoYou update the docs in forty years as needed. In any case that question seems wildly unrelated to the question at hand, which is about a joke that's intended to be a present-day political reference.
- keiyakins 9y agoThe same way you know what technical details will be needed in forty years: By actively maintaining the documentation, as they're doing.
- DoofusOfDeath 9y agoThey're probably just trying to give wide berth of the world's most dangerous joke.