mirror of https://github.com/python/cpython
71 lines
2.7 KiB
ReStructuredText
71 lines
2.7 KiB
ReStructuredText
.. highlightlang:: rest
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Style Guide
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===========
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The Python documentation should follow the `Apple Publications Style Guide`_
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wherever possible. This particular style guide was selected mostly because it
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seems reasonable and is easy to get online.
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Topics which are not covered in the Apple's style guide will be discussed in
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this document.
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All reST files use an indentation of 3 spaces. The maximum line length is 80
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characters for normal text, but tables, deeply indented code samples and long
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links may extend beyond that.
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Make generous use of blank lines where applicable; they help grouping things
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together.
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A sentence-ending period may be followed by one or two spaces; while reST
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ignores the second space, it is customarily put in by some users, for example
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to aid Emacs' auto-fill mode.
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Footnotes are generally discouraged, though they may be used when they are the
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best way to present specific information. When a footnote reference is added at
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the end of the sentence, it should follow the sentence-ending punctuation. The
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reST markup should appear something like this::
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This sentence has a footnote reference. [#]_ This is the next sentence.
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Footnotes should be gathered at the end of a file, or if the file is very long,
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at the end of a section. The docutils will automatically create backlinks to
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the footnote reference.
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Footnotes may appear in the middle of sentences where appropriate.
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Many special names are used in the Python documentation, including the names of
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operating systems, programming languages, standards bodies, and the like. Most
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of these entities are not assigned any special markup, but the preferred
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spellings are given here to aid authors in maintaining the consistency of
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presentation in the Python documentation.
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Other terms and words deserve special mention as well; these conventions should
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be used to ensure consistency throughout the documentation:
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CPU
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For "central processing unit." Many style guides say this should be spelled
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out on the first use (and if you must use it, do so!). For the Python
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documentation, this abbreviation should be avoided since there's no
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reasonable way to predict which occurrence will be the first seen by the
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reader. It is better to use the word "processor" instead.
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POSIX
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The name assigned to a particular group of standards. This is always
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uppercase.
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Python
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The name of our favorite programming language is always capitalized.
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Unicode
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The name of a character set and matching encoding. This is always written
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capitalized.
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Unix
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The name of the operating system developed at AT&T Bell Labs in the early
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1970s.
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.. _Apple Publications Style Guide: http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/APStyleGuide/AppleStyleGuide2006.pdf
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