Re: Timestamp convertor plugin

[Ulrik Sverdrup <ulrik sverdrup gmail com>]

2010/5/20 Jan Krajdl <spm spamik cz>:
> Hi,
> I started using kupfer a few days ago and I think that is a great software. I had a idea for plugin - converting unix
> timestamps to the human readable date and vice-versa. So I made this plugin. I think that this plugin can be useful for more
> people, so if you want, you can add it to package with kupfer.
>
> Regards,
> --
> Jan Krajdl

Hi,

thanks for the nice words. This plugin is very narrowly scoped but if
it's useful for someone, it's probably worth including. I have my doubts
about how to best implement user customization; I don't like user
configuration a lot (because it's a liability, and often leads to a lot
of code for very few users). The best plugin here would clearly be a
plugin that would understand any date format :-)

The advice about contributing to Kupfer given in the email just sent
can be worth reading:

http://mail.gnome.org/archives/kupfer-list/2010-May/msg00017.html

Here some comments about the plugin itself:

 * In Kupfer, names of things are in title case (for example "Convert
   from Timestamp"), while descriptions are in normal sentence case
   (like the plugin description already is).
 * To be correct, we must take account to the locale encoding when
   using the time functions. There are functions in
   `kupfer.kupferstring' for that.
 * In the spirit of Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY), use _FORMATS.keys()
   as the value for alternatives=
 * Do not use naked except clauses.


Ulrik