Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | \chapter{Undocumented Modules} |
| 2 | |
| 3 | Here's a quick listing of modules that are currently undocumented, but |
| 4 | that should be documented. Feel free to contribute documentation for |
| 5 | them! (The idea and most contents for this chapter were taken from a |
| 6 | posting by Fredrik Lundh; I have revised some modules' status.) |
| 7 | |
| 8 | |
| 9 | \section{Fundamental, and pretty straightforward to document} |
| 10 | |
Guido van Rossum | 08157f8 | 1997-08-21 02:29:19 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 11 | cPickle.c -- mostly the same as pickle but no subclassing |
| 12 | |
| 13 | cStringIO.c -- mostly the same as StringIO but no subclassing |
| 14 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 15 | |
Fred Drake | a007c13 | 1997-12-29 21:32:26 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 16 | \section{Frameworks; somewhat harder to document, but well worth the effort} |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 17 | |
| 18 | Tkinter.py -- Interface to Tcl/Tk for graphical user interfaces; |
Guido van Rossum | 1508538 | 1997-04-03 23:49:28 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 19 | Fredrik Lundh is working on this one! |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 20 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 21 | CGIHTTPServer.py -- CGI-savvy HTTP Server |
| 22 | |
| 23 | SimpleHTTPServer.py -- Simple HTTP Server |
| 24 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 25 | |
| 26 | \section{Stuff useful to a lot of people, including the CGI crowd} |
| 27 | |
| 28 | MimeWriter.py -- Generic MIME writer |
| 29 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 30 | multifile.py -- make each part of a multipart message ``feel'' like |
| 31 | |
Guido van Rossum | 00f1569 | 1997-11-24 17:50:09 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 32 | fileinput.py -- convenient loop over the lines in a list of input files. |
| 33 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 34 | |
| 35 | \section{Miscellaneous useful utilities} |
| 36 | |
| 37 | Some of these are very old and/or not very robust; marked with ``hmm''. |
| 38 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 39 | calendar.py -- Calendar printing functions |
| 40 | |
Guido van Rossum | 5de1eb9 | 1997-12-30 04:41:56 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 41 | ConfigParser.py -- Parse a file of sectioned configuration parameters |
| 42 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 43 | cmp.py -- Efficiently compare files |
| 44 | |
| 45 | cmpcache.py -- Efficiently compare files (uses statcache) |
| 46 | |
| 47 | dircache.py -- like os.listdir, but caches results |
| 48 | |
| 49 | dircmp.py -- class to build directory diff tools on |
| 50 | |
| 51 | linecache.py -- Cache lines from files (used by pdb) |
| 52 | |
| 53 | pipes.py -- Conversion pipeline templates (hmm) |
| 54 | |
Guido van Rossum | 5bbf0f7 | 1997-04-30 19:41:48 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 55 | popen2.py -- improved popen, can read AND write simultaneously |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 56 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 57 | statcache.py -- Maintain a cache of file stats |
| 58 | |
| 59 | colorsys.py -- Conversion between RGB and other color systems |
| 60 | |
Guido van Rossum | 1508538 | 1997-04-03 23:49:28 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 61 | dbhash.py -- (g)dbm-like wrapper for bsdhash.hashopen |
| 62 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 63 | mhlib.py -- MH interface |
| 64 | |
| 65 | pty.py -- Pseudo terminal utilities |
| 66 | |
| 67 | tty.py -- Terminal utilities |
| 68 | |
| 69 | cmd.py -- build line-oriented command interpreters (used by pdb) |
| 70 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 71 | bdb.py -- A generic Python debugger base class (used by pdb) |
| 72 | |
| 73 | ihooks.py -- Import hook support (for ni and rexec) |
| 74 | |
Guido van Rossum | 9085822 | 1997-08-15 02:52:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 75 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 76 | \section{Parsing Python} |
| 77 | |
| 78 | (One could argue that these should all be documented together with the |
Fred Drake | c211254 | 1997-10-06 21:41:30 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 79 | parser module.) |
Guido van Rossum | cfaf143 | 1997-07-16 15:48:20 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 80 | |
Guido van Rossum | 9085822 | 1997-08-15 02:52:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 81 | tokenize.py -- regular expression that recognizes Python tokens; also |
| 82 | contains helper code for colorizing Python source code. |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 83 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 84 | pyclbr.py -- Parse a Python file and retrieve classes and methods |
| 85 | |
| 86 | |
| 87 | \section{Platform specific modules} |
| 88 | |
| 89 | ntpath.py -- equivalent of posixpath on 32-bit Windows |
| 90 | |
| 91 | dospath.py -- equivalent of posixpath on MS-DOS |
| 92 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 93 | |
| 94 | \section{Code objects and files, debugger etc.} |
| 95 | |
| 96 | compileall.py -- force "compilation" of all .py files in a directory |
| 97 | |
| 98 | py_compile.py -- "compile" a .py file to a .pyc file |
| 99 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 100 | repr.py -- Redo the `...` (representation) but with limits on most |
| 101 | sizes (used by pdb) |
| 102 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 103 | |
| 104 | \section{Multimedia} |
| 105 | |
| 106 | audiodev.py -- Plays audio files |
| 107 | |
| 108 | sunau.py -- parse Sun and NeXT audio files |
| 109 | |
| 110 | sunaudio.py -- interpret sun audio headers |
| 111 | |
| 112 | toaiff.py -- Convert "arbitrary" sound files to AIFF files |
| 113 | |
| 114 | sndhdr.py -- recognizing sound files |
| 115 | |
| 116 | wave.py -- parse WAVE files |
| 117 | |
| 118 | whatsound.py -- recognizing sound files |
| 119 | |
| 120 | |
| 121 | \section{Oddities} |
| 122 | |
| 123 | These modules are probably also obsolete, or just not very useful. |
| 124 | |
Guido van Rossum | 7336935 | 1997-11-18 15:30:13 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 125 | bisect.py -- Bisection algorithms (this is actually useful at times) |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 126 | |
| 127 | dump.py -- Print python code that reconstructs a variable |
| 128 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 129 | find.py -- find files matching pattern in directory tree |
| 130 | |
Guido van Rossum | 1508538 | 1997-04-03 23:49:28 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 131 | fpformat.py -- General floating point formatting functions -- obsolete |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 132 | |
| 133 | grep.py -- grep |
| 134 | |
| 135 | mutex.py -- Mutual exclusion -- for use with module sched |
| 136 | |
Guido van Rossum | 5bbf0f7 | 1997-04-30 19:41:48 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 137 | packmail.py -- create a self-unpacking \UNIX{} shell archive |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 138 | |
| 139 | poly.py -- Polynomials |
| 140 | |
| 141 | sched.py -- event scheduler class |
| 142 | |
| 143 | shutil.py -- utility functions usable in a shell-like program |
| 144 | |
| 145 | util.py -- useful functions that don't fit elsewhere |
| 146 | |
| 147 | zmod.py -- Compute properties of mathematical "fields" |
| 148 | |
| 149 | tzparse.py -- Parse a timezone specification (unfinished) |
| 150 | |
| 151 | |
| 152 | \section{Obsolete} |
| 153 | |
Guido van Rossum | cfaf143 | 1997-07-16 15:48:20 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 154 | newdir.py -- New dir() function (the standard dir() is now just as good) |
| 155 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 156 | addpack.py -- standard support for "packages" (use ni instead) |
| 157 | |
Guido van Rossum | 1508538 | 1997-04-03 23:49:28 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 158 | fmt.py -- text formatting abstractions (too slow) |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 159 | |
| 160 | Para.py -- helper for fmt.py |
| 161 | |
| 162 | lockfile.py -- wrapper around FCNTL file locking (use |
| 163 | fcntl.lockf/flock intead) |
| 164 | |
| 165 | tb.py -- Print tracebacks, with a dump of local variables (use |
| 166 | pdb.pm() or traceback.py instead) |
| 167 | |
Guido van Rossum | 61c2703 | 1997-07-18 21:08:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 168 | codehack.py -- extract function name or line number from a function |
| 169 | code object (these are now accessible as attributes: co.co_name, |
| 170 | func.func_name, co.co_firstlineno) |
| 171 | |
Guido van Rossum | 612316f | 1997-03-14 04:12:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 172 | |
| 173 | \section{Extension modules} |
| 174 | |
Guido van Rossum | 8d2893b | 1997-03-27 20:57:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 175 | bsddbmodule.c -- Interface to the Berkeley DB interface (yet another |
| 176 | dbm clone). |
| 177 | |
Guido van Rossum | 8d2893b | 1997-03-27 20:57:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 178 | cursesmodule.c -- Curses interface. |
| 179 | |
Guido van Rossum | b9ee9c2 | 1997-06-02 17:34:02 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 180 | dbhashmodule.c -- Obsolete; this functionality is now provided by |
| 181 | bsddbmodule.c. |
Guido van Rossum | 8d2893b | 1997-03-27 20:57:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 182 | |
| 183 | dlmodule.c -- A highly experimental and dangerous device for calling |
| 184 | arbitrary C functions in arbitrary shared libraries. |
| 185 | |
| 186 | newmodule.c -- Tommy Burnette's `new' module (creates new empty |
| 187 | objects of certain kinds) -- dangerous. |
| 188 | |
| 189 | nismodule.c -- NIS (a.k.a. Sun's Yellow Pages) interface. |
| 190 | |
| 191 | timingmodule.c -- Measure time intervals to high resolution (obsolete |
| 192 | -- use time.clock() instead). |
| 193 | |
Guido van Rossum | b9ee9c2 | 1997-06-02 17:34:02 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 194 | stdwinmodule.c -- Interface to STDWIN (an old, unsupported |
| 195 | platform-independent GUI package). Obsolete; use Tkinter for a |
| 196 | platform-independent GUI instead. |
| 197 | |
Guido van Rossum | 8d2893b | 1997-03-27 20:57:52 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 198 | The following are SGI specific: |
| 199 | |
| 200 | clmodule.c -- Interface to the SGI compression library. |
| 201 | |
| 202 | svmodule.c -- Interface to the ``simple video'' board on SGI Indigo |
| 203 | (obsolete hardware). |