Sunday reading: packaging and nested data structures

[Matt Wilkie]

Seeking to deepen my understanding of the fractured python packaging world and how to apply the best, or at least the parts I can wrap my head around, led me to an excellent birds-eye view article that yielded several insights and an essential aha! into the challenges of packaging Leo and why it's been hard for me:

PyPI is not an app store. PyPI, pip, wheels, and the underlying setuptools machinations are all designed for libraries. Code for developer reuse. [Not applications]

`Pip install leo` is great, we need it, but it's not the tool for all distribution methods. Better installation for end users as an application was the target I've had in my mind. So props to Mahmoud Hashemi for re-orienting me, a new luminary for me to learn from.

In typical Matt-ooh-whats-that? fashion, this led me to a new project to explore which I think Leonistas will find interesting also, Glom:

Real applications have real data, and real data nests. Objects inside of objects inside of lists of objects.

glom is a new and powerful way to handle real-world data, featuring:

• Path-based access for nested data structures
• Readable, meaningful error messages
• Declarative data transformation, using lightweight, Pythonic specifications
• Built-in data exploration and debugging features

All of that and more, available as a fully-documented, pure-Python package, tested on Python 2.7-3.7, as well as PyPy.

-Matt

[Edward K. Ream]

On Sun, Aug 26, 2018 at 5:34 PM Matt Wilkie <map...@gmail.com> wrote:

PyPI is not an app store. PyPI, pip, wheels, and the underlying setuptools machinations are all designed for libraries. Code for developer reuse. [Not applications]

Good to remember that.  It's also good that pip install leo mostly works.

Edward