Mailman 3 - docs - python.org

Python 3.13 Documentation ePub Issue
by Bryan Fegley May 8, 2025

May 8, 2025

Hello, I wanted to report an issue I have encountered. It seems that the ePub version of the Python 3.13 Documentation is corrupt (found here: https://docs.python.org/3/download.html). I get the screenshoted error on every page when I open the book. I’ve tried downloading and opening the file on several different devices and get the same error (Mac, iPhone, iPad, Kindle). Just wanted to bring it to your attention in case this is an issue others might experience as well. I do appreciate the ability to have an epub version of the help docs to keep on my e-reader for referencing on the go. Thank you! Best, Bryan Fegley

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Download link for 3.11 docs not working
by BloodyRain2k April 17, 2025

April 17, 2025

Hi, I was just trying to download a copy of the docs for 3.11, but that's currently a little difficult: The link is trying to download https://docs.python.org/3.11/archives/python-3.11.12-docs-html.zip but the latest version I could find by manually looking in /3.11/archives is https://docs.python.org/3.11/archives/python-3.11.11-docs-html.zip Not a big issue, as I assume there's not a big difference between 3.11.11 and .12, but I just wanted to let you guys know. Thanks for maining the docs so well for all of us <3

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https://strftime.org/
by Kai Thorsten Burkert April 3, 2025

April 3, 2025

Hello I hope I am adressing right here. Using LMDE6 with Cinnemon DE. Tried to pimp my date and time display (calendar(a)cinnamon.org) within the task bar. Help is leading to the page "https://strftime.org/" Problem: Python strftime cheatsheet says calender week should be "%W". That doesn't work, while %V is working fine for me. Dont' know about "%U" which is not working for me either, but maybe on my first day of week settings. Kind regards and thank you for the fish, Kai

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General Frustration
by Mario L. Epp April 1, 2025

April 1, 2025

Dear Python Documenters, As the subject line states, I am dealing with an ever growing general frustration with the current Python3 documentation, that is making me seriously consider consigning Python to the figurative landfill. The search facility is next to useless for anything beyond a simple one-word search, and completely ignores all relevant non-alphabetic characters like the @ for decorators or the dunders. In my perception the documentation has degenerated from being comprehensible by a hobbyist (as was the case way back for 2.3) to requiring not only a basic 4-year university degree, but also another 4 years of post-graduate studies in lingüistics. Back in the days, the "Tutorial" was a compact overview of the most relevant features and limitations that made it easy for a beginner or an occasional hobbyist to find the basic information on keywords, built-ins, variable and function naming limitations, as well as a roadmap to more "advanced" features. Even the relevant dunder variables were summarized in table format. With the release of Python3 these summaries and easy to understand explanations have more or less disapeared. I had my start with computer programming way back in December 1985 with the Commodore-64. The manuals were well writen in an easy to understand common sense language. In the four weeks between receiving the computer and the start of the user training course offered by the dealer, I had taught myself to program even beyond the material covered in that 2-week training course. So as a teenager I bugged the instructor for more advanced tips and tricks. With-in a year I built a full-fledged database system that ran on less than 31kB of memory and 170kB of disk space. As a neurodivergent person living out in the wilderness, beyond the end of the earth, I graduated from high school despite the school system. But I was unable to prosper at university. Though I did teach myself several other programming languages including dBase, C/C++, VB, SQL, C#, Python, as well as a few markup languages like TeX and HTML/CSS, with some basic scripting thrown in for good measure. Having lived in virtual isolation for most of my life, I have had to rely on vendor provided documentation for my knowledge and skills. But when that documentation abandons common language prose with illustrative examples in favor of a terse formulaic approach based on various linguistic theories, it becomes an excercise in frustration. I tend to get a theoretical idea of what is supposed to be accomplished from reading the documentation of Python3 standard library. But unless there are some demonstrative examples provided with the documentation it takes me a lot of trial and error to make Python do what it should theoretically do. And it gets even worse when I run afoul of simple limitation that is burried in some extremely obscure corner of the documentation in the form of a technical formula. Or when I recall some snippet of information I encountered while scouring the documentation for one issue, that would be relevant for a new issue that I am dealing with. But for the life of me, I am simply unable to find that information through the provided index and search facility. CASE IN POINT: I remember reading about there being a decorator that automagicaly populates the __all__ dunder while working on a Unicode codec problem. But now that I want to see if this decorator can be relevant and/or helpful to my needs, I am unable to find the documentation. Where is the summary table of all the available decorators with a link to their relevant section of documentation????? Another CASE IN POINT: The documentation states that the user should NOT define any dunders beyond those defined by the language itself! But WHERE is the summary table (or list) with ALL the defined dunders and their basic function???????? As well as a link to the relevant chapter of the documentation. Or the case of the “__init__.py” file????? The documentation only states that it has to exist in every directory of a package and is responsible for initiating all modules. But I have been unable to finde the relevant documentation regarding the structure and content of this so vital file. When I entered the search string “__init__.py” into the online search box, it only produced hits to the “__init__()” function of classes. Collecting all the “__init__.py” files from the standard library and reverse engineering them to learn about the necessary structure and content is an imense waste of time and and excercise in extreme frustration. For those of you who have been full-time developers with and for Python for the last five, ten, fifteen or even twenty years, many of these things might be obvious to you. And seem irrelevant to spent time documenting. But keep in mind that the documentation also needs to be relevant to new-commers and occasional amateurs who need some comprehensive summaries or an easy way to find relevant information in the ever more extensive volumen of documentation. Thank you for “listening” to my rant. I wish you all successfull coding. -- /"\ \ / ASCII Ribbon Campaign X against HTML e-mail / \ PS: this mailbox is flooded with spam, that makes it very difficult to find any relevant mail.

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2 suggestions for itertools docs
by cq March 24, 2025

March 24, 2025

Hi， when I read docs about itertools, something makes me misunderstand: 1, Why Arguments do not write in () behind function name? Better to keep docs style consistently. In other place it's like: https://docs.python.org/3.13/library/stdtypes.html#index-22 or https://docs.python.org/3.13/library/math.html#module-math 2, The Example or Results is not what I get in interactive interpreter! e.g. 1st, itertools functions including batched() return an iterator，must use next() or list()... to read elements 2nd,it's ('A', 'B', 'C') ('D', 'E', 'F') ('G',), 3 tuples with string elements each , NOT 'ABC' 'DEF' 'G', NOT 'ABC DEF G' e.g. it's ('A','B'), NOT 'AB'，maybe return ('AB','AC','AD','BC','BD','CD') is better，but the func does not do now. Strictly speaking, the itertools docs is wrong. As official docs, eg given should tell greenhand exactly what language return.

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Suggestion for Downloadable Documentation
by Victor Yore Feb. 27, 2025

Feb. 27, 2025

Hello, I was trying to download the tutorial portion of the documentation only. I think it would be helpful to have options for downloading sections of the documentation instead of the entire document. Whether that be chapters or sections. With the entire document when I go to table of contents, I have to scroll through pages and pages of “What’s new in Python x.x” and change logs before I get to the tutorial section. Let me know what you think or what I can do. Thanks, Victor

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A translation of the Python documentation into Romanian
by Octavian Mustafa Feb. 27, 2025

Feb. 27, 2025

Hello. I notice that there is, apparently, no translation into Romanian of the core Python docs (the Language Reference, the Library Reference). In such a case, may I start working on such a translation and, eventually, publish it? Thank you in advance for your insightful response.

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No archives of 3.5.9 Documentation available
by Calvin Gavin Feb. 14, 2025

Feb. 14, 2025

Good day, I am a computer science student who was looking for the documentation for Python version 3.5.9. I am using the documentation for the old version of Python since I am uploading programs to UVA Online Judge, which uses python version 3.5 to judge submitted programs. When I went to download the documentation, I found that there were no versions of 3.5.9 documentation available for download. Would it be possible for you to upload them to the site? Thank you.

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itertools.chain.from_iterable title argument wrong
by Wensen Dong Feb. 11, 2025

Feb. 11, 2025

Seen: *classmethod *chain.from_iterable(*iterable*) Expected: *classmethod *chain.from_iterable(*iterables*)

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version select drop down list is broken in newer version of the docs
by mark.yagnatinsky＠barclays.com Feb. 10, 2025

Feb. 10, 2025

A picture is worth a thousand words here. Let's start with an old version of the python tutorial. https://docs.python.org/3.7/tutorial/index.html At the top of the page, we have a drop down menu: [cid:image001.png@01DB7BD2.A2A73FA0] Using this menu, we can quickly "flip back" to old versions of the tutorial (as far back as 2.7), or forward all the way to 3.13. We can do this for basically any page of documentation. Most importantly, we can do this for any part of the standard library. In python 3.8, the range of versions we can choose has expanded: we can pick versions that are long out of support like 2.6 or 3.1. I like this actually: it should be easy to get docs for python 2.6 even if no further updates are planned. (This is something Python does much better than the GNU project (in my opinion), where typically the website only has the docs for the latest and greatest version of, say, bash or grep conveniently accessible.) But starting from 3.8, clicking a version doesn't take you to "same" page in the new version. It drops you back at the table of contents. That's all I have for now I guess. This message is for information purposes only. It is not a recommendation, advice, offer or solicitation to buy or sell a product or service, nor an official confirmation of any transaction. It is directed at persons who are professionals and is intended for the recipient(s) only. It is not directed at retail customers. This message is subject to the terms at: https://www.ib.barclays/disclosures/web-and-email-disclaimer.html. For important disclosures, please see: https://www.ib.barclays/disclosures/sales-and-trading-disclaimer.html regarding marketing commentary from Barclays Sales and/or Trading desks, who are active market participants; https://www.ib.barclays/disclosures/barclays-global-markets-disclosures.html regarding our standard terms for Barclays Investment Bank where we trade with you in principal-to-principal wholesale markets transactions; and in respect to Barclays Research, including disclosures relating to specific issuers, see: https://publicresearch.barclays.com. __________________________________________________________________________________ If you are incorporated or operating in Australia, read these important disclosures: https://www.ib.barclays/disclosures/important-disclosures-asia-pacific.html. __________________________________________________________________________________ For more details about how we use personal information, see our privacy notice: https://www.ib.barclays/disclosures/personal-information-use.html. __________________________________________________________________________________

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