Re: [PATCH] gnulib-tool.py: Follow gnulib-tool changes, part 63.

[Bruno Haible]

Hi Collin,

> Unrelated to the newline change itself, but something I noticed that I
> would like to bring up:
> 
> def lines_to_multiline(lines):
>     '''lines_to_multiline(List[str]) -> str
> 
>     Combine the lines to a single string, terminating each line with a newline
>     character.'''
> 
> In new functions, I have been prefering adding Python 3.7+ type hints
> and omitting the repeated function name in doc strings. Like this:
> 
> # 'List' requires from __future__ import annotations
> def lines_to_multiline(lines: List[str]) -> str:
>     '''Combine the lines to a single string, terminating each line with a 
> newline
>     character.'''
> 
> I figured that, once gnulib-tool.py has most/all of it's features
> ready, we could do this to the existing functions as code clean up.

Yes, we can do that. In the commit today, however, I wanted to close one issue
without possibly opening another one.

> Before making that change, it might be worth formalizing doc string
> conventions. Right now we use three single quotes and a style similar
> to those described in the GNU Coding standards [1]:
> 
> /* This is a C comment.
>    New line.  */
> 
> '''This is a Python comment.
>    New line.'''
> 
> I don't have strong opinions on the matter, but it is worth mentioning
> that some documentation tools such as Docutils or Sphinx expect
> certain formats [2] [3].

It is also worth testing various editors (gedit, kate, emacs, eclipse,
PyCharm, etc.): Where do they put the cursor when you have the cursor here:

     '''This is a Python comment.█

and press Enter?

Bruno