Problems with dbm documentation #50187

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1. MLModel commented on May 5, 2009

   

   MLModelmannequin

   on May 5, 2009

   MannequinAuthor

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   There are some problems with the dbm documentation. In the opening section:

   1. The comment before the iteration example says that .values() works,
      but the method is not defined.
   2. The statement in the paragraph after the documentation of dbm.open()
      says that the opened dbm object "supports most of the same functionality
      as dictionaries". It specifically mentions keys(), but should state that
      values() is not supported.
   3. I disagree with the use of the word "most" there. It does support a
      minimal dictionary-like interface, but it provides only about 1/3 of the
      method that dict does.
   4. The documentation should point out that keys() returns a list not a
      dict_keys object.
   5. The example code shows the use of iteritems() but the documentation
      doesn't mention it. In any case, there is no such method.
   6. In fact, the comment at the beginning of dbm/init.py states that
      the interface is limited to set, get, and del using [] notation, the in
      operator (and though not stated, the not in operator), and k.keys().

   The Unix dbm section does state that values() and items() are not
   supported, but the gdbm section does not (and should).

   I hope this is all accurate. In general, the whole page should be edited
   to be consistent with the actual implementation.
2. MLModel

   assigned

   birkenfeld

   on May 5, 2009
3. MLModel

   added

   docsDocumentation in the Doc dirDocumentation in the Doc dir

   on May 5, 2009
4. MLModel commented on May 5, 2009

   

   MLModelmannequin

   on May 5, 2009

   MannequinAuthor

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   Further confusion:
   dbm.dumb._Database objects DO support items(), DO NOT support
   iteritems(), and DO support iterkeys()

   My previous comments referred to the general dbm documentation and the
   specifics of dbm.gnu. I haven't checked any of this against the Unix
   ndbm implementation.
5. MLModel commented on May 5, 2009

   

   MLModelmannequin

   on May 5, 2009

   MannequinAuthor

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   And, checking the methods of dbm.ndbm, I find get() and setdefault() but
   nothing like iterkeys() or iteritems(), just keys().

   I think it might also be worth pointing out that a particular variation
   of dbm may be chosen to create a database file by calling the
   submodule's open function -- dbm.gdbm.open(), dbm.ndbm.open(), or
   dbm.dumb.open().
6. birkenfeld commented on May 17, 2009

   

   birkenfeld

   on May 17, 2009

   Member

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   Superseded by bpo-6045.
7. birkenfeld

   closed this as completedon May 17, 2009
8. ezio-melotti

   transferred this issue fromon Apr 10, 2022