\documentclass{howto}

\usepackage{ltxmarkup}

\title{Documenting Python}

\input{boilerplate}

% Now override the stuff that includes author information:

\author{Fred L. Drake, Jr.}

\authoraddress{

Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) \\

1895 Preston White Drive, Reston, Va 20191, USA \\

E-mail: \email{[email protected]}

}

\date{\today}

\begin{document}

\maketitle

\begin{abstract}

\noindent

The Python language documentation has a substantial body of

documentation, much of it contributed by various authors. The markup

used for the Python documentation is based on \LaTeX{} and requires a

significant set of macros written specifically for documenting Python.

Maintaining the documentation requires substantial effort, in part

because selecting the correct markup to use is not always easy.

This document describes the document classes and special markup used

in the Python documentation. Authors may use this guide, in

conjunction with the template files provided with the

distribution, to create or maintain whole documents or sections.

\end{abstract}

\tableofcontents

\section{Introduction}

Python's documentation has long been considered to be good for a

free programming language. There are a number of reasons for this,

the most important being the early commitment of Python's creator,

Guido van Rossum, to providing documentation on the language and its

libraries, and the continuing involvement of the user community in

providing assistance for creating and maintaining documentation.

The involvement of the community takes many forms, from authoring to

bug reports to just plain complaining when the documentation could

be more complete or easier to use. All of these forms of input from

the community have proved useful during the time I've been involved

in maintaining the documentation.

This document is aimed at authors and potential authors of

documentation for Python. More specifically, it is for people

contributing to the standard documentation and developing additional

documents using the same tools as the standard documents. This

guide will be less useful for authors using the Python documentation

tools for topics other than Python, and less useful still for

authors not using the tools at all.

The material in this guide is intended to assist authors using the

Python documentation tools. It includes information on the source

distribution of the standard documentation, a discussion of the

document types, reference material on the markup defined in the

document classes, a list of the external tools needed for processing

documents, and reference material on the tools provided with the

documentation resources. At the end, there is also a section

discussing future directions for the Python documentation and where

to turn for more information.

\section{Directory Structure}

The source distribution for the standard Python documentation

contains a large number of directories. While third-party documents

do not need to be placed into this structure or need to be placed

within a similar structure, it can be helpful to know where to look

for examples and tools when developing new documents using the

Python documentation tools. This section describes this directory

structure.

The documentation sources are usually placed within the Python

source distribution as the top-level directory \file{Doc/}, but

are not dependent on the Python source distribution in any way.

The \file{Doc/} directory contains a few files and several

subdirectories. The files are mostly self-explanatory, including a

\file{README} and a \file{Makefile}. The directories fall into

three categories:

\begin{definitions}

\term{Document Sources}

The \LaTeX{} sources for each document are placed in a

separate directory. These directories are given short,

three-character names:

\begin{tableii}{p{.75in}|p{3in}}{filenq}{Directory}{Document Title}

\lineii{api/}{\emph{The Python/C API}}

\lineii{doc/}{\emph{Documenting Python}}

\lineii{ext/}{\emph{Extending and Embedding the Python Interpreter}}

\lineii{lib/}{\emph{Python Library Reference}}

\lineii{mac/}{\emph{Macintosh Module Reference}}

\lineii{ref/}{\emph{Python Reference Manual}}

\lineii{tut/}{\emph{Python Tutorial}}

\end{tableii}

\term{Format-Specific Output}

Most output formats have a directory which contains a

\file{Makefile} which controls the generation of that format

and provides storage for the formatted documents. The only

variations within this category are the Portable Document

Format (PDF) and PostScript versions are placed in the

directories \file{paper-a4/} and \file{paper-letter/} (this

causes all the temporary files created by \LaTeX{} to be kept

in the same place for each paper size, where they can be more

easily ignored).

\begin{tableii}{p{.75in}|p{3in}}{filenq}{Directory}{Output Formats}

\lineii{html/}{HTML output}

\lineii{info/}{GNU info output}

\lineii{paper-a4/}{PDF and PostScript, A4 paper}

\lineii{paper-letter/}{PDF and PostScript, US-Letter paper}

\end{tableii}

\term{Supplemental Files}

Some additional directories are used to store supplemental

files used for the various processes. Directories are

included for the shared \LaTeX{} document classes, the

\LaTeX2HTML support, template files for various document

components, and the scripts used to perform various steps in

the formatting processes.

\begin{tableii}{p{.75in}|p{3in}}{filenq}{Directory}{Contents}

\lineii{perl/}{Support for \LaTeX2HTML processing}

\lineii{templates/}{Example files for source documents}

\lineii{texinputs/}{Style implementation for \LaTeX}

\lineii{tools/}{Custom processing scripts}

\end{tableii}

\end{definitions}

\section{\LaTeX{} Primer \label{latex-primer}}

This section is a brief introduction to \LaTeX{} concepts and

syntax, to provide authors enough information to author documents

productively without having to become ``\TeX{}nicians.''

\LaTeX{} documents contain two parts: the preamble and the body.

The preamble is used to specify certain metadata about the document

itself, such as the title, the list of authors, the date, and the

\emph{class} the document belongs to. Additional information used

to control index generation and the use of bibliographic databases

can also be placed in the preamble. For most authors, the preamble

can be most easily created by copying it from an existing document

and modifying a few key pieces of information.

The \dfn{class} of a document is used to place a document within a

broad category of documents and set some fundamental formatting

properties. For Python documentation, two classes are used: the

\code{manual} class and the \code{howto} class. These classes also

define the additional markup used to document Python concepts and

structures. Specific information about these classes is provided in

section \ref{classes}, ``Document Classes,'' below. The first thing

in the preamble is the declaration of the document's class.

After the class declaration, a number of \emph{macros} are used to

provide further information about the document and setup any

additional markup that is needed. No output is generated from the

preamble; it is an error to include free text in the preamble

because it would cause output.

The document body follows the preamble. This contains all the

printed components of the document marked up structurally.

XXX This section will discuss what the markup looks like, and

explain the difference between an environment and a macro.

\section{Document Classes \label{classes}}

Two \LaTeX{} document classes are defined specifically for use with

the Python documentation. The \code{manual} class is for large

documents which are sectioned into chapters, and the \code{howto}

class is for smaller documents.

The \code{manual} documents are larger and are used for most of the

standard documents. This document class is based on the standard

\LaTeX{} \code{report} class and is formatted very much like a long

technical report. The \emph{Python Reference Manual} is a good

example of a \code{manual} document, and the \emph{Python Library

Reference} is a large example.

The \code{howto} documents are shorter, and don't have the large

structure of the \code{manual} documents. This class is based on

the standard \LaTeX{} \code{article} class and is formatted somewhat

like the Linux Documentation Project's ``HOWTO'' series as done

originally using the LinuxDoc software. The original intent for the

document class was that it serve a similar role as the LDP's HOWTO

series, but the applicability of the class turns out to be somewhat

more broad. This class is used for ``how-to'' documents (this

document is an example) and for shorter reference manuals for small,

fairly cohesive module libraries. Examples of the later use include

the standard \emph{Macintosh Library Modules} and \emph{Using

Kerberos from Python}, which contains reference material for an

extension package. These documents are roughly equivalent to a

single chapter from a larger work.

\section{Special Markup Constructs}

The Python document classes define a lot of new environments and

macros. This section contains the reference material for these

facilities.

\subsection{Information Units \label{info-units}}

XXX Explain terminology, or come up with something more ``lay.''

There are a number of environments used to describe specific

features provided by modules. Each environment requires

parameters needed to provide basic information about what is being

described, and the environment content should be the description.

Most of these environments make entries in the general index (if

one is being produced for the document); if no index entry is

desired, non-indexing variants are available for many of these

environments. The environments have names of the form

\code{\var{feature}desc}, and the non-indexing variants are named

\code{\var{feature}descni}. The available variants are explicitly

included in the list below.

For each of these environments, the first parameter, \var{name},

provides the name by which the feature is accessed.

Environments which describe features of objects within a module,

such as object methods or data attributes, allow an optional

\var{type name} parameter. When the feature is an attribute of

class instances, \var{type name} only needs to be given if the

class was not the most recently described class in the module; the

\var{name} value from the most recent \env{classdesc} is implied.

For features of built-in or extension types, the \var{type name}

value should always be provided. Another special case includes

methods and members of general ``protocols,'' such as the

formatter and writer protocols described for the

\module{formatter} module: these may be documented without any

specific implementation classes, and will always require the

\var{type name} parameter to be provided.

\begin{envdesc}{datadesc}{\p{name}}

This environment is used to document global data in a module,

including both variables and values used as ``defined

constants.'' Class and object attributes are not documented

using this environment.

\end{envdesc}

\begin{envdesc}{datadescni}{\p{name}}

Like \env{datadesc}, but without creating any index entries.

\end{envdesc}

\begin{envdesc}{excdesc}{\p{name}}

Describe an exception. This may be either a string exception or

a class exception.

\end{envdesc}

\begin{envdesc}{funcdesc}{\p{name}\p{parameters}}

Describe a module-level function. \var{parameters} should

not include the parentheses used in the call syntax. Object

methods are not documented using this environment. Bound object

methods placed in the module namespace as part of the public

interface of the module are documented using this, as they are

equivalent to normal functions for most purposes.

The description should include information about the parameters

required and how they are used (especially whether mutable

objects passed as parameters are modified), side effects, and

possible exceptions. A small example may be provided.

\end{envdesc}

\begin{envdesc}{funcdescni}{\p{name}\p{parameters}}

Like \env{funcdesc}, but without creating any index entries.

\end{envdesc}

\begin{envdesc}{classdesc}{\p{name}\p{constructor parameters}}

Describe a class and its constructor. \var{constructor

parameters} should not include the \var{self} parameter or

the parentheses used in the call syntax.

\end{envdesc}

\begin{envdesc}{memberdesc}{\op{type name}\p{name}}

Describe an object data attribute. The description should

include information about the type of the data to be expected

and whether it may be changed directly.

\end{envdesc}

\begin{envdesc}{memberdescni}{\op{type name}\p{name}}

Like \env{memberdesc}, but without creating any index entries.

\end{envdesc}

\begin{envdesc}{methoddesc}{\op{type name}\p{name}\p{parameters}}

Describe an object method. \var{parameters} should not include

the \var{self} parameter or the parentheses used in the call

syntax. The description should include similar information to

that described for \env{funcdesc}.

\end{envdesc}

\begin{envdesc}{methoddescni}{\op{type name}\p{name}\p{parameters}}

Like \env{methoddesc}, but without creating any index entries.

\end{envdesc}

\subsection{Inline Markup}

\begin{macrodesc}{bfcode}{\p{text}}

Like \macro{code}, but also makes the font bold-face.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{cdata}{\p{name}}

The name of a C-language variable.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{cfunction}{\p{name}}

The name of a C-language function. \var{name} should include the

function name and the trailing parentheses.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{character}{\p{char}}

A character when discussing the character rather than a one-byte

string value. The character will be typeset as with \macro{samp}.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{class}{\p{name}}

A class name; a dotted name may be used.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{code}{\p{text}}

A short code fragment or literal constant value. Typically, it

should not include any spaces since no quotation marks are

added.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{constant}{\p{name}}

The name of a ``defined'' constant. This may be a C-language

\code{\#define} or a Python variable that is not intended to be

changed.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{ctype}{\p{name}}

The name of a C \keyword{typedef} or structure. For structures

defined without a \keyword{typedef}, use \code{\e ctype\{struct

struct_tag\}} to make it clear that the \keyword{struct} is

required.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{deprecated}{\p{version}\p{what to do}}

Declare whatever is being described as being deprecated starting

with release \var{version}. The text given as \var{what to do}

should recommend something to use instead.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{dfn}{\p{term}}

Mark the defining instance of \var{term} in the text. (No index

entries are generated.)

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{email}{\p{address}}

An email address. Note that this is \emph{not} hyperlinked in

any of the possible output formats.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{emph}{\p{text}}

Emphasized text; this will be presented in an italic font.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{envvar}{\p{name}}

An environment variable. Index entries are generated.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{exception}{\p{name}}

The name of an exception. A dotted name may be used.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{file}{\p{file or dir}}

The name of a file or directory. In the PDF and PostScript

outputs, single quotes and a font change are used to indicate

the file name, but no quotes are used in the HTML output.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{filenq}{\p{file or dir}}

Like \macro{file}, but single quotes are never used. This can

be used in conjunction with tables if a column will only contain

file or directory names.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{function}{\p{name}}

The name of a Python function; dotted names may be used.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{kbd}{\p{key sequence}}

Mark a sequence of keystrokes. What form \var{key sequence}

takes may depend on platform- or application-specific

conventions. For example, an \program{xemacs} key sequence

may be marked like \code{\e kbd\{C-x C-f\}}.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{keyword}{\p{name}}

The name of a keyword in a programming language.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{makevar}{\p{name}}

The name of a \program{make} variable.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{manpage}{\p{name}\p{section}}

A reference to a \UNIX{} manual page.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{member}{\p{name}}

The name of a data attribute of an object.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{method}{\p{name}}

The name of a method of an object. \var{name} should include the

method name and the trailing parentheses. A dotted name may be

used.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{mimetype}{\p{name}}

The name of a MIME type.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{module}{\p{name}}

The name of a module; a dotted name may be used.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{newsgroup}{\p{name}}

The name of a USENET newsgroup.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{optional}{\p{text}}

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{program}{\p{name}}

The name of an executable program. This may differ from the

file name for the executable for some platforms. In particular,

the \file{.exe} (or other) extension should be omitted for DOS

and Windows programs.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{refmodule}{\op{key}\p{name}}

Like \macro{module}, but create a hyperlink to the documentation

for the named module. Note that the corresponding

\macro{declaremodule} must be in the same document. If the

\macro{declaremodule} defines a module key different from the

module name, it must also be provided as \var{key} to the

\macro{refmodule} macro.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{regexp}{\p{string}}

Mark a regular expression.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{rfc}{\p{number}}

A reference to an Internet Request for Comments. This generates

appropriate index entries. The text \samp{RFC \var{number}} is

generated; in the HTML output, this text is a hyperlink to an

online copy of the specified RFC.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{samp}{\p{text}}

A short code sample, but possibly longer than would be given

using \macro{code}. Since quotation marks are added, spaces are

acceptable.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{strong}{\p{text}}

Strongly emphasized text; this will be presented using a bold

font.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{var}{\p{name}}

The name of a variable or formal parameter in running text.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{version}{}

The version number for the documentation, as specified using

\macro{release} in the preamble.

\end{macrodesc}

\subsection{Module-specific Markup}

The markup described in this section is used to provide information

about a module being documented. A typical use of this markup

appears at the top of the section used to document a module. A

typical example might look like this:

\begin{verbatim}

\section{\module{spam} ---

Access to the SPAM facility}

\declaremodule{extension}{spam}

\platform{Unix}

\modulesynopsis{Access to the SPAM facility of \UNIX{}.}

\moduleauthor{Jane Doe}{[email protected]}

\end{verbatim}

\begin{macrodesc}{declaremodule}{\op{key}\p{type}\p{name}}

Requires two parameters: module type (standard, builtin,

extension), and the module name. An optional parameter should be

given as the basis for the module's ``key'' used for linking to or

referencing the section. The ``key'' should only be given if the

module's name contains any underscores, and should be the name

with the underscores stripped. This should be the first thing

after the \macro{section} used to introduce the module.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{platform}{\p{specifier}}

Specifies the portability of the module. \var{specifier} is a

comma-separated list of keys that specify what platforms the

module is available on. The keys are short identifiers;

examples that are in use include \samp{IRIX}, \samp{Mac},

\samp{Windows}, and \samp{Unix}. It is important to use a key

which has already been used when applicable. This is used to

provide annotations in the Module Index and the HTML and GNU info

output.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{modulesynopsis}{\p{text}}

The \var{text} is a short, ``one line'' description of the

module that can be used as part of the chapter introduction.

This is must be placed after \macro{declaremodule}.

The synopsis is used in building the contents of the table

inserted as the \macro{localmoduletable}. No text is

produced at the point of the markup.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{moduleauthor}{\p{name}\p{email}}

This macro is used to encode information about who authored a

module. This is currently not used to generate output, but can be

used to help determine the origin of the module.

\end{macrodesc}

\subsection{Library-level Markup}

This markup is used when describing a selection of modules. For

example, the \emph{Macintosh Library Modules} document uses this

to help provide an overview of the modules in the collection, and

many chapters in the \emph{Python Library Reference} use it for

the same purpose.

\begin{macrodesc}{localmoduletable}{}

If a \file{.syn} file exists for the current

chapter (or for the entire document in \code{howto} documents), a

\env{synopsistable} is created with the contents loaded from the

\file{.syn} file.

\end{macrodesc}

\subsection{Table Markup}

There are three general-purpose table environments defined which

should be used whenever possible. These environments are defined

to provide tables of specific widths and some convenience for

formatting. These environments are not meant to be general

replacements for the standard \LaTeX{} table environments, but can

be used for an advantage when the documents are processed using

the tools for Python documentation processing. In particular, the

generated HTML looks good! There is also an advantage for the

eventual conversion of the documentation to SGML (see section

\ref{futures}, ``Future Directions'').

Each environment is named \env{table\var{cols}}, where \var{cols}

is the number of columns in the table specified in lower-case

Roman numerals. Within each of these environments, an additional

macro, \macro{line\var{cols}}, is defined, where \var{cols}

matches the \var{cols} value of the corresponding table

environment. These are supported for \var{cols} values of

\code{ii}, \code{iii}, and \code{iv}. These environments are all

built on top of the \env{tabular} environment.

\begin{envdesc}{tableii}{\p{colspec}\p{col1font}\p{heading1}\p{heading2}}

Create a two-column table using the \LaTeX{} column specifier

\var{colspec}. The column specifier should indicate vertical

bars between columns as appropriate for the specific table, but

should not specify vertical bars on the outside of the table

(that is considered a stylesheet issue). The \var{col1font}

parameter is used as a stylistic treatment of the first column

of the table: the first column is presented as

\code{\e\var{col1font}\{column1\}}. To avoid treating the first

column specially, \var{col1font} may be \samp{textrm}. The

column headings are taken from the values \var{heading1} and

\var{heading2}.

\end{envdesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{lineii}{\p{column1}\p{column2}}

Create a single table row within a \env{tableii} environment.

The text for the first column will be generated by applying the

macro named by the \var{col1font} value when the \env{tableii}

was opened.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{envdesc}{tableiii}{\p{colspec}\p{col1font}\p{heading1}\p{heading2}\p{heading3}}

Like the \env{tableii} environment, but with a third column.

The heading for the third column is given by \var{heading3}.

\end{envdesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{lineiii}{\p{column1}\p{column2}\p{column3}}

Like the \macro{lineii} macro, but with a third column. The

text for the third column is given by \var{column3}.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{envdesc}{tableiv}{\p{colspec}\p{col1font}\p{heading1}\p{heading2}\p{heading3}\p{heading4}}

Like the \env{tableiii} environment, but with a fourth column.

The heading for the fourth column is given by \var{heading4}.

\end{envdesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{lineiv}{\p{column1}\p{column2}\p{column3}\p{column4}}

Like the \macro{lineiii} macro, but with a fourth column. The

text for the fourth column is given by \var{column4}.

\end{macrodesc}

An additional table-like environment is \env{synopsistable}. The

table generated by this environment contains two columns, and each

row is defined by an alternate definition of

\macro{modulesynopsis}. This environment is not normally use by

the user, but is created by the \macro{localmoduletable} macro.

\subsection{Reference List Markup \label{references}}

Many sections include a list of references to module documentation

or external documents. These lists are created using the

\env{seealso} environment. This environment defines some

additional macros to support creating reference entries in a

reasonable manner.

\begin{envdesc}{seealso}{}

This environment creates a ``See also:'' heading and defines the

markup used to describe individual references.

\end{envdesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{seemodule}{\op{key}\p{name}\p{why}}

Refer to another module. \var{why} should be a brief

explanation of why the reference may be interesting. The module

name is given in \var{name}, with the link key given in

\var{key} if necessary. In the HTML and PDF conversions, the

module name will be a hyperlink to the referred-to module.

\strong{Note:} The module must be documented in the same

document (the corresponding \macro{declaremodule} is required).

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{seetext}{\p{text}}

Add arbitrary text \var{text} to the ``See also:'' list. This

can be used to refer to off-line materials or on-line materials

using the \macro{url} macro.

\end{macrodesc}

\subsection{Index-generating Markup \label{indexing}}

Effective index generation for technical documents can be very

difficult, especially for someone familliar with the topic but not

the creation of indexes. Much of the difficulty arises in the

area of terminology: including the terms an expert would use for a

concept is not sufficient. Coming up with the terms that a novice

would look up is fairly difficult for an author who, typically, is

an expert in the area she is writing on.

The truly difficult aspects of index generation are not areas with

which the documentation tools can help. However, ease

of producing the index once content decisions are make is within

the scope of the tools. Markup is provided which the processing

software is able to use to generate a variety of kinds of index

entry with minimal effort. Additionally, many of the environments

described in section \ref{info-units}, ``Information Units,'' will

generate appropriate entries into the general and module indexes.

The following macro can be used to control the generation of index

data, and should be used in the document preamble:

\begin{macrodesc}{makemodindex}{}

This should be used in the document preamble if a ``Module

Index'' is desired for a document containing reference material

on many modules. This causes a data file

\code{lib\macro{jobname}.idx} to be created from the

\macro{declaremodule} macros. This file can be processed by the

\program{makeindex} program to generate a file which can be

\macro{input} into the document at the desired location of the

module index.

\end{macrodesc}

There are a number of macros that are useful for adding index

entries for particular concepts, many of which are specific to

programming languages or even Python.

\begin{macrodesc}{bifuncindex}{\p{name}}

Add an index entry referring to a built-in function named

\var{name}; parentheses should not be included after

\var{name}.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{exindex}{\p{exception}}

Add a reference to an exception named \var{exception}. The

exception may be either string- or class-based.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{kwindex}{\p{keyword}}

Add a reference to a language keyword (not a keyword parameter

in a function or method call).

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{obindex}{\p{object type}}

Add an index entry for a built-in object type.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{opindex}{\p{operator}}

Add a reference to an operator, such as \samp{+}.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{refmodindex}{\op{key}\p{module}}

Add an index entry for module \var{module}; if \var{module}

contains an underscore, the optional parameter \var{key} should

be provided as the same string with underscores removed. An

index entry ``\var{module} (module)'' will be generated. This

is intended for use with non-standard modules implemented in

Python.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{refexmodindex}{\op{key}\p{module}}

As for \macro{refmodindex}, but the index entry will be

``\var{module} (extension module).'' This is intended for use

with non-standard modules not implemented in Python.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{refbimodindex}{\op{key}\p{module}}

As for \macro{refmodindex}, but the index entry will be

``\var{module} (built-in module).'' This is intended for use

with standard modules not implemented in Python.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{refstmodindex}{\op{key}\p{module}}

As for \macro{refmodindex}, but the index entry will be

``\var{module} (standard module).'' This is intended for use

with standard modules implemented in Python.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{stindex}{\p{statement}}

Add an index entry for a statement type, such as \keyword{print}

or \keyword{try}/\keyword{finally}.

XXX Need better examples of difference from \macro{kwindex}.

\end{macrodesc}

Additional macros are provided which are useful for conveniently

creating general index entries which should appear at many places

in the index by rotating a list of words. These are simple macros

that simply use \macro{index} to build some number of index

entries. Index entries build using these macros contain both

primary and secondary text.

\begin{macrodesc}{indexii}{\p{word1}\p{word2}}

Build two index entries. This is exactly equivalent to using

\code{\e index\{\var{word1}!\var{word2}\}} and

\code{\e index\{\var{word2}!\var{word1}\}}.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{indexiii}{\p{word1}\p{word2}\p{word3}}

Build three index entries. This is exactly equivalent to using

\code{\e index\{\var{word1}!\var{word2} \var{word3}\}},

\code{\e index\{\var{word2}!\var{word3}, \var{word1}\}}, and

\code{\e index\{\var{word3}!\var{word1} \var{word2}\}}.

\end{macrodesc}

\begin{macrodesc}{indexiv}{\p{word1}\p{word2}\p{word3}\p{word4}}

Build four index entries. This is exactly equivalent to using

\code{\e index\{\var{word1}!\var{word2} \var{word3} \var{word4}\}},

\code{\e index\{\var{word2}!\var{word3} \var{word4}, \var{word1}\}},

\code{\e index\{\var{word3}!\var{word4}, \var{word1} \var{word2}\}},

and

\code{\e index\{\var{word4}!\var{word1} \var{word2} \var{word3}\}}.

\end{macrodesc}

\section{Special Names}

Many special names are used in the Python documentation, including

the names of operating systems, programming languages, standards

bodies, and the like. Many of these were assigned \LaTeX{} macros

at some point in the distant past, and these macros lived on long

past their usefulness. In the current markup, these entities are

not assigned any special markup, but the preferred spellings are

given here to aid authors in maintaining the consistency of

presentation in the Python documentation.

\begin{description}

\item[POSIX]

The name assigned to a particular group of standards. This is

always uppercase.

\item[Python]

The name of our favorite programming language is always

capitalized.

\end{description}

\section{Processing Tools}

\subsection{External Tools}

Many tools are needed to be able to process the Python

documentation if all supported formats are required. This

section lists the tools used and when each is required. Consult

the \file{Doc/README} file to see if there are specific version

requirements for any of these.

\begin{description}

\item[\program{dvips}]

This program is a typical part of \TeX{} installations. It is

used to generate PostScript from the ``device independent''

\file{.dvi} files. It is needed for the conversion to

PostScript.

\item[\program{emacs}]

Emacs is the kitchen sink of programmers' editors, and a damn

fine kitchen sink it is. It also comes with some of the

processing needed to support the proper menu structures for

Texinfo documents when an info conversion is desired. This is

needed for the info conversion. Using \program{xemacs}

instead of FSF \program{emacs} may lead to instability in the

conversion, but that's because nobody seems to maintain the

Emacs Texinfo code in a portable manner.

\item[\program{latex}]

This is a world-class typesetter by Donald Knuth. It is used

for the conversion to PostScript, and is needed for the HTML

conversion as well (\LaTeX2HTML requires one of the

intermediate files it creates).

\item[\program{latex2html}]

Probably the longest Perl script anyone ever attempted to

maintain. This converts \LaTeX{} documents to HTML documents,

and does a pretty reasonable job. It is required for the

conversions to HTML and GNU info.

\item[\program{lynx}]

This is a text-mode Web browser which includes an

HTML-to-plain text conversion. This is used to convert

\code{howto} documents to text.

\item[\program{make}]

Just about any version should work for the standard documents,

but GNU \program{make} is required for the experimental

processes in \file{Doc/tools/sgmlconv/}, at least while

they're experimental.

\item[\program{makeindex}]

This is a standard program for converting \LaTeX{} index data

to a formatted index; it should be included with all \LaTeX{}

installations. It is needed for the PDF and PostScript

conversions.

\item[\program{makeinfo}]

GNU \program{makeinfo} is used to convert Texinfo documents to

GNU info files. Since Texinfo is used as an intermediate

format in the info conversion, this program is needed in that

conversion.

\item[\program{pdflatex}]

pdf\TeX{} is a relatively new variant of \TeX, and is used to

generate the PDF version of the manuals. It is typically

installed as part of most of the large \TeX{} distributions.

\program{pdflatex} is pdf\TeX{} using the \LaTeX{} format.

\item[\program{perl}]

Perl is required for \LaTeX2HTML{} and one of the scripts used

to post-process \LaTeX2HTML output, as well as the

HTML-to-Texinfo conversion. This is required for

the HTML and GNU info conversions.

\item[\program{python}]

Python is used for many of the scripts in the

\file{Doc/tools/} directory; it is required for all

conversions. This shouldn't be a problem if you're interested

in writing documentation for Python!

\end{description}

\subsection{Internal Tools}

This section describes the various scripts that are used to

implement various stages of document processing or to orchestrate

entire build sequences. Most of these tools are only useful

in the context of building the standard documentation, but some

are more general.

\begin{description}

\item[\program{mkhowto}]

\end{description}

\section{Future Directions \label{futures}}

The history of the Python documentation is full of changes, most of

which have been fairly small and evolutionary. There has been a

great deal of discussion about making large changes in the markup

languages and tools used to process the documentation. This section

deals with the nature of the changes and what appears to be the most

likely path of future development.

\subsection{Structured Documentation \label{structured}}

Most of the small changes to the \LaTeX{} markup have been made

with an eye to divorcing the markup from the presentation, making

both a bit more maintainable. Over the course of 1998, a large

number of changes were made with exactly this in mind; previously,

changes had been made but in a less systematic manner and with

more concern for not needing to update the existing content. The

result has been a highly structured and semantically loaded markup

language implemented in \LaTeX. With almost no basic \TeX{} or

\LaTeX{} markup in use, however, the markup syntax is about the

only evidence of \LaTeX{} in the actual document sources.

One side effect of this is that while we've been able to use

standard ``engines'' for manipulating the documents, such as

\LaTeX{} and \LaTeX2HTML, most of the actual transformations have

been created specifically for Python. The \LaTeX{} document

classes and \LaTeX2HTML support are both complete implementations

of the specific markup designed for these documents.

Combining highly customized markup with the somewhat esoteric

systems used to process the documents leads us to ask some

questions: Can we do this more easily? and, Can we do this

better? After a great deal of discussion with the community, we

have determined that actively pursuing modern structured

documentation systems is worth some investment of time.

There appear to be two real contenders in this arena: the Standard

General Markup Language (SGML), and the Extensible Markup Language

(XML). Both of these standards have advantages and disadvantages,

and many advantages are shared.

SGML offers advantages which may appeal most to authors,

especially those using ordinary text editors. There are also

additional abilities to define content models. A number of

high-quality tools with demonstrated maturity is available, but

most are not free; for those which are, portability issues remain

a problem.

The advantages of XML include the availability of a large number

of evolving tools. Unfortunately, many of the associated

standards are still evolving, and the tools will have to follow

along. This means that developing a robust tool set that uses

more than the basic XML 1.0 recommendation is not possible in the

short term. The promised availability of a wide variety of

high-quality tools which support some of the most important

related standards is not immediate. Many tools are likely to be

free.

XXX Eventual migration to SGML/XML.

\subsection{Discussion Forums \label{discussion}}

Discussion of the future of the Python documentation and related

topics takes place in the Documentation Special Interest Group, or

``Doc-SIG.'' Information on the group, including mailing list

archives and subscription information, is available at

\url{http://www.python.org/sigs/doc-sig/}. The SIG is open to all

interested parties.

Comments and bug reports on the standard documents should be sent

to \email{[email protected]}. This may include comments

about formatting, content, grammatical and spelling errors, or

this document.

\end{document}