[Docstring-develop] Re: pydps - function signatures and Tools/compiler questions

[Jeremy H. <je...@zo...>]

>>>>> "TJI" == Tibs  <Tony> writes:

  TJI> Jeremy - this means that I'm getting a *much* better
  TJI> understanding of some of the nodes in the compiler tree. I
  TJI> realise that the table in

  TJI> 	http://www.python.org/~jeremy/compiler/module-compiler.ast.html

  TJI> is generated from LaTeX source, presumably that at

  TJI> http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/python/python/dist/src/To
  TJI> ols/compiler/doc/asttable.tex

That's right. 

  TJI> (well, when I browse it). I'm willing to update that, in
  TJI> whatever form is useful, with more information about what each
  TJI> "entry" is. What's the best way for me to do that, so far as
  TJI> you're concerned? (taking a copy of the LaTeX and working on it
  TJI> would be OK by me).

The LaTeX source is the right place to make changes.  If you've got
updates, it's probably best to use the patch manager to submit
changes.

  TJI> Two other questions:

  TJI> 1. Is there a possibility that the compiler module might get
  TJI> shifted from Tools into the standard library? It seems rather
  TJI> too useful to be stuck "in the hinterlands".

I think it's primarily a question of user demand.  If people are using
it enough, it might move.

  TJI> 2. Should the various representation functions I'm working on
  TJI> eventually be merged in as methods on the compiler nodes? I'm a
  TJI> bit chary of having code outwith the compiler module that has
  TJI> to know details about a good number of the nodes inside (e.g.,
  TJI> the problems if a new class gets added). On the other hand,
  TJI> cruft that (maybe) no-one else would want would be a bad
  TJI> thing...

I think you can count on the organization of the ast classes staying
basically the same.  The names of the classes and the attributes of
their instances are a crucial part of the API.  Is that sufficient?

Jeremy