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[Python-Dev] Best practice for documentation for std lib

Ethan Furman ethan at stoneleaf.us
Sun Sep 22 18:32:31 CEST 2013 
On 09/22/2013 08:49 AM, Barry Warsaw wrote:
> On Sep 22, 2013, at 10:34 AM, Brett Cannon wrote:
>
>> The rule of thumb I go by is the docstring should be enough to answer the
>> question "what args does this thing take and what does it do in general to
>> know it's the function I want and another one in the same module?" quickly
>> and succinctly; i.e. just enough so that help() reminds you about details
>> for a module you are already familiar with that might come up while at the
>> interpreter prompt. Everything else -- in-depth discussion of the
>> algorithms, extra examples, why you want to use this function, etc. -- all
>> go in the .rst docs.
>
> That's exactly my own rule of thumb too, so +1.

Another +1.  So it that three rules or three thumbs?  ;)

--
~Ethan~
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