2013-12-29 Big or small modules in Python, pyrsslocal
It is not always easy to determine a good size for a module or a set of modules. Should it be kept as a single bloc which comes alone or a set of smaller modules? It is easier to understand a smaller modules. It usually limits itself to a small set of similar functionalities. However, extending a small module is faster than starting a new one, it avoids spending too much time setting up the installation steps, documentation automation, dependencies with others modules. Small modules grow, especially if you work late on them on your free time.
pypi makes it simple to install a module and its dependencies, GitHub helps to fork some existing module which needs to be fixed for a specific usage. That's why I started to split my own toolbox. Does it worth the effort knowing I'm the only one to use it? Probably not but, for my teachings, I think I will not be reluctant anymore to create a new small project for a specific purpose.
I created or updated three modules:
- pyquickhelper: functions quickly written to help generating sphinx documentation
- pyensae: functions used in pratical lessons
- pyrsslocal: I was using Google Reader and I was reluctant to use another service, wondering if it would disappear. It could be improved but it is already usable.
2013-07-28 my RSS Reader
When Google Reader died, I was reluctant to move to something different. Not because others solutions are worse or anything like that, but more because I needed to create a new account, a new password, eventually to pay if the number of blogs I wanted to follow was above a given threshold. With Google, I did not have to do anything like that. I would argue that giving everything to a single company which can monitor every single move you do on the net is not a good idea.
But if I push this reasoning to its extreme, why not having a tool on my laptop which allows me to read blog posts? That way, I would download myself the blog content, I would keep any statistics about my own uage for myself. And if the design is not good enough, I just have to change it. Well, the only argument against that is the time I will need to build that tool (and to maintain it).
Well, to be honest, I also did it because I wanted to learn about some python and javascript figures of programming which I talk about in previous blogs. The tools looks that way:
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Xavier Dupré
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