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99% of top Python packages are now wheels

pythonwheels.com

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Re: 99% of top Python packages are now wheels

#41

Post by pdimitar »

capableweb wrote: post #38
pdimitar wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I would have never understood that from a cursory look at the article. Learned it just now from you.

So without understanding the reasoning why they are not simply called "python packages" but "wheels", so they have distinct meaning, you chose to go on a tirade about why they are not simply called "packages" instead? The confidence of some HN commentators never ceases to surprise me

(EDIT: made myself sound less conflicting.)

It's not such a stretch to want to understand things quicker as an outsider and be annoyed by a seeming gatekeeping via quirky witty terminology.

Not sure why you used such a conflicting tone as an opposition of that -- I think, fairly reasonable -- stance.

Re: 99% of top Python packages are now wheels

#42

Post by loxdalen »

incrudible wrote: post #26
kalekold wrote: post #7

Packages are wheels? lolwut? > Wheels are the new standard of Python distribution and are intended to replace eggs. Ahhh... ???

Packages are a language-level concept in Python. A package may be a collection of source files on the filesystem, it's still a package, except that doesn't lend itself well to distribution . Moreover, from the language standpoint, the usage of a package (like "import numpy") is the same on all architectures, but the files needed for distribution (native extension module binaries) may differ. Python is rife with Monty…

And here is the reasoning for naming it wheel: https://github.com/pypa/wheel/blob/3c7b6a0d13ee036ea8f6488ab....

Probably a reference to Monty Python as well (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_Shop_sketch)

Re: 99% of top Python packages are now wheels

#43

Post by pdimitar »

adhesive_wombat wrote: post #35
pdimitar wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I would have never understood that from a cursory look at the article. Learned it just now from you.

It's number 3 in "advantages of wheels", which is above the fold on my screen and exactly 50 words into the page, including titles.

Fair enough, my point was that the terminology was a put-off. Reads like kids bragging about stuff and not as a technical article.

Re: 99% of top Python packages are now wheels

#45

Post by rvnx »

misnome wrote: post #20
pdimitar wrote: post #4

30 years later I still love programming but people given authority opting for cutesy names for critically important terms in the ecosystem should be severely limited in their options. Flakes, pills, wheels, eggs... Come on, people. I am willing to bet good money that it won't hurt you physically if you just call them "packages".

> I am willing to bet good money that it won't hurt you physically if you just call them "packages". So, "Packages are the new standard of distributing packages, and replace packages" is clearer to you?

You wouldn't have to say it even

Re: 99% of top Python packages are now wheels

#46

Post by wiredfool »

The three that are not wheels are distributed as source tarballs only -- one is AWS Sagemaker that looks like it uses a bunch of native code, one is Apache Spark, and one is futures.

I think the news here is that there are no packages in the top N that are using an alternate packaging system without using wheel as well. (alternates being msi, exe, or egg)

Re: 99% of top Python packages are now wheels

#47

Post by mschuster91 »

pdimitar wrote: post #4

30 years later I still love programming but people given authority opting for cutesy names for critically important terms in the ecosystem should be severely limited in their options. Flakes, pills, wheels, eggs... Come on, people. I am willing to bet good money that it won't hurt you physically if you just call them "packages".

This is, other than the fact it violates UNIX principles, my biggest issue with Homebrew.

Re: 99% of top Python packages are now wheels

#48

Post by aniforprez »

TekMol wrote: post #29
Znafon wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, you can do this: https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/topics/vcs-support/

That is pretty awesome! Why is all the "wheels", "eggs", "PyPi" ... stuff needed then?

Wheels are essentially zip files with all the code required to run it contained in one handy little file for all platforms that the package maintainer chooses to build for. Instead of having to download the source of the packages and building on your machines, you have a cache-able neat little file that contains potentially everything you need to use the package. It makes package installations way faster because it skips the build steps and will ship all the binaries required to run the package (ideally). Eggs were this but are not in use anymore in favor of using wheels. Pypi is the package repository for python packages just like npm

Re: 99% of top Python packages are now wheels

#49

Post by rvnx »

waynesonfire wrote: post #40
TekMol wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is pretty awesome! Why is all the "wheels", "eggs", "PyPi" ... stuff needed then?

New college grad needs something todo?

Probably Ruby owns the award for the worst package names. Can you guess what Sorbet is doing in Ruby ? Or Oniguruma ? Or Ahoy ? Or Figaro ?

Re: 99% of top Python packages are now wheels

#50

Post by bilalq »

plq wrote: post #16
pdimitar wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well these are at least more or less known and widely used (though I agree if you never worked with Java that .JAR and .WAR will be confusing). But when a language ecosystem opts for cutesy niche names then they just end up confusing everybody, including some of their own users.

I think JAR (Java Archive) and WAR (Web Archive) make sense. But wheel? It's a wheel of cheese, because pypi used to be called cheeseshop? I mean sure, but doesn't it feel a bit like that 20-year-old tatoo that you got during your teens that you got mixed feelings about today? My suggestion: Call them pypacks -- extension: .pyp

And then everyone will start confusing them with pip.

Though I suppose people already struggle to keep pip vs pip3 vs pip3.9 vs pip3.10 vs pip3.${n} vs pipx vs pipenv straight.

Jokes aside, I feel like the names on python are no more terrible than what Java does.

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