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[Python-Dev] Replacement for print in Python 3.0

Chris Smith smitty_one_each at bigfoot.com
Tue Sep 6 22:53:15 CEST 2005 
>>>>> "Guido" == Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> writes:


    Guido> <intermezzo>

    Guido> In a different thread I mentioned a design principle for
    Guido> which I have no catchy name, but which has often helped me
    Guido> design better APIs. One way to state it is to say that
    Guido> instead of a single "swiss-army-knife" function with
    Guido> various options that choose different behavior variants,
    Guido> it's better to have different dedicated functions for each
    Guido> of the major functionality types. So let's call it the
    Guido> "Swiss Army Knife (...Not)" API design pattern.


I call the idea the 80/20 Split, or 'Convenience Functions'.
You have a powerful, highly generalized function that can do most
anything, and has an interface to prove it.
Then, a collection of 'Convenience Functions' to constrain that "Swiss
Army Knife" to handle 80% of the use-cases, while still letting Ye
Power User dig a little deeper.
The challenge is to keep the Convenience Function population low, so
that you don't arrive at 8,020 different functions in the interface.
Go, Python!
Chris
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