Article in Python Rag

Next month's Python Rag contains an article written by me on the topic of namespaces. Knowing what namespaces are and where they are found helps you understand how the language works and explains how simple its concepts of functions, classes and modules are.
On balance I'm happy with the article; I've never written anything like this before and I think I've communicated the point. However, I've definitely identified areas that could be improved. For example:

• The article doesn't flow. This is because I've tried to back each assertion I make with proof at the Python interpreter. As a result the narrative flow gets over punctuated with example excerpts, and becomes difficult to read and hard to follow. Perhaps I'm too used to writing doctests! Instead, I think I should have dedicated a large set of more creative narrative to each point, and offered bigger and fuller examples to back things up.
  


• Not enough visuals. Many of us are visual thinkers, tending to draw pictures in our minds representing abstract concepts. One thing that I think is important about understanding namespaces is that they allow you to visualize python programs, as a sort of containment hierarchy. I really think I could of draw some attractive images to help communicate my point a little better.
  


• Not creative or imaginative. Although the article is technical in nature, it doesn't hurt to use a few metaphors here and there, or provide some historical context to certain features or throw in some personal reflection. Perhaps I was preoccupied with being technically accurate, so the result is a little dry.

Fortunately, next month (Feb), I'm writing a follow-up on Python scopes which ties in quite nicely with namespaces. This is the perfect opportunity to address these issues and write a better article!