diff --git a/pep-0233.txt b/pep-0233.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000..840ca354d --- /dev/null +++ b/pep-0233.txt @@ -0,0 +1,98 @@ +PEP: 233 +Title: Python Online Help +Version: $Revision$ +Author: paul@prescod.net, paulp@activestate.com (Paul Prescod) +Status: Draft +Type: Standards Track +Created: 11-Dec-2000 +Python-Version: 2.1 +Post-History: + + +Abstract + + This PEP describes a command-line driven online help facility for + Python. The facility should be able to build on existing + documentation facilities such as the Python documentation and + docstrings. It should also be extensible for new types and + modules. + + +Interactive use: + + Simply typing "help" describes the help function (through repr() + overloading). + + "help" can also be used as a function: + + The function takes the following forms of input: + + help( "string" ) -- built-in topic or global + help( ) -- docstring from object or type + help( "doc:filename" ) -- filename from Python documentation + + If you ask for a global, it can be a fully-qualified name such as + help("xml.dom"). + + You can also use the facility from a command-line + + python --help if + + In either situation, the output does paging similar to the "more" + command. + + +Implementation + + The help function is implemented in an onlinehelp module which is + demand-loaded. + + There should be options for fetching help information from + environments other than the command line through the onlinehelp + module: + + onlinehelp.gethelp(object_or_string) -> string + + It should also be possible to override the help display function + by assigning to onlinehelp.displayhelp(object_or_string). + + The module should be able to extract module information from + either the HTML or LaTeX versions of the Python documentation. + Links should be accommodated in a "lynx-like" manner. + + Over time, it should also be able to recognize when docstrings are + in "special" syntaxes like structured text, HTML and LaTeX and + decode them appropriately. + + A prototype implementation is available with the Python source + distribution as nondist/sandbox/doctools/onlinehelp.py. + + +Built-in Topics + + help( "intro" ) - What is Python? Read this first! + help( "keywords" ) - What are the keywords? + help( "syntax" ) - What is the overall syntax? + help( "operators" ) - What operators are available? + help( "builtins" ) - What functions, types, etc. are built-in? + help( "modules" ) - What modules are in the standard library? + help( "copyright" ) - Who owns Python? + help( "moreinfo" ) - Where is there more information? + help( "changes" ) - What changed in Python 2.0? + help( "extensions" ) - What extensions are installed? + help( "faq" ) - What questions are frequently asked? + help( "ack" ) - Who has done work on Python lately? + + +Security Issues + + This module will attempt to import modules with the same names as + requested topics. Don't use the modules if you are not confident + that everything in your PYTHONPATH is from a trusted source. + + + +Local Variables: +mode: indented-text +indent-tabs-mode: nil +End: