I was recently asked for some advice about Python source code that would serve as a good example of organization, style, and documentation (including comments in the code itself). I had a few suggestions for projects to look at, but I wonder what other people think about the question.
Can you point to a project with source that you would hold up as an example of how to set up a medium to large code base? What makes it a good example?
14 comments:
Django
Trac?
I second Django as a good project for that. The code is very well commented, it has tests, docstrings where they apply, a nice and easy to understand structure, etc.
I'm not a fan of reading other people's code, and had no trouble at all reading a lot of the code to check how it does things.
I had a similar blog post a bit back.
Django.
IPython has a large codebase and lots of docs. The trunk of it is undergoing a lot of change right now, so maybe in a couple days that would be good.
CherryPy is a great example. Also, the CherryPy community is also rather exceptional.
twisted :)
Hmm. Would it be a crime if I said the Python core and stdlib. Some of the smartest brains in Python maintain those.
Whenever this question comes up (yeah, there's nothing new under the sun), I always say Mailman. Every time I've had to hack something into it, it's been no problem.
At the other end of the spectrum is anaconda, the Fedora/RedHat installer. Every time I've tried looking at the code there it's made my eyes bleed.
Sean
Django and Zope (3, not 2) were on my suggestion list. I suspected that Mailman would be a good one, too, so thanks for the confirmation.
I didn't think of trac or CherryPy, but their code is good.
I'll have to give IPython a look.
I've never looked at the Twisted code. If the code matches the architecture, it will be a mind-bending read. :-)
@matt - Thanks for the link, there was some helpful feedback in the comments there.
Thanks, everyone!
Thanks for posting this question. The responses have been very helpful.
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I've never looked at the Twisted code. If the code matches the architecture, it will be a mind-bending read. :-)
"""
I found reading the Twisted code base to be an excellent way of un-mind-bending the architecture :-)
MWM
Aloha!
Somebody else suggested Trac and I agree. When I get this question I always point to Trac.
http://trac.edgewall.org/
The ability in Trac to actually look at the code formatted in a nice way on a web page is another reason why Trac is a good choice.
That is, not only is the code written in good way, but the tool implemented by the code is good for displaying the code. Very recursive-meta...
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