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1 | 1 | .. _documenting-ipython: |
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2 | 2 | |
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3 | 3 | ===================== |
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4 | 4 | Documenting IPython |
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5 | 5 | ===================== |
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6 | 6 | |
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7 | 7 | When contributing code to IPython, you should strive for clarity and |
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8 | 8 | consistency, without falling prey to a style straitjacket. Basically, |
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9 | 9 | 'document everything, try to be consistent, do what makes sense.' |
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10 | 10 | |
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11 | 11 | By and large we follow existing Python practices in major projects like Python |
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12 | 12 | itself or NumPy, this document provides some additional detail for IPython. |
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13 | 13 | |
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14 | 14 | |
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15 | 15 | Standalone documentation |
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16 | 16 | ======================== |
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17 | 17 | |
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18 | 18 | All standalone documentation should be written in plain text (``.txt``) files |
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19 | 19 | using reStructuredText [reStructuredText]_ for markup and formatting. All such |
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20 | 20 | documentation should be placed in the directory :file:`docs/source` of the |
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21 | 21 | IPython source tree. Or, when appropriate, a suitably named subdirectory |
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22 | 22 | should be used. The documentation in this location will serve as the main |
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23 | 23 | source for IPython documentation. |
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24 | 24 | |
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25 | 25 | The actual HTML and PDF docs are built using the Sphinx [Sphinx]_ |
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26 | 26 | documentation generation tool. Once you have Sphinx installed, you can build |
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27 | 27 | the html docs yourself by doing: |
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28 | 28 | |
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29 | 29 | .. code-block:: bash |
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30 | 30 | |
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31 | 31 | $ cd ipython-mybranch/docs |
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32 | 32 | $ make html |
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33 | 33 | |
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34 | 34 | Our usage of Sphinx follows that of matplotlib [Matplotlib]_ closely. We are |
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35 | 35 | using a number of Sphinx tools and extensions written by the matplotlib team |
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36 | 36 | and will mostly follow their conventions, which are nicely spelled out in |
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37 | 37 | their documentation guide [MatplotlibDocGuide]_. What follows is thus a |
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38 | 38 | abridged version of the matplotlib documentation guide, taken with permission |
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39 | 39 | from the matplotlib team. |
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40 | 40 | |
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41 | 41 | If you are reading this in a web browser, you can click on the "Show Source" |
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42 | 42 | link to see the original reStricturedText for the following examples. |
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43 | 43 | |
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44 | 44 | A bit of Python code:: |
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45 | 45 | |
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46 | 46 | for i in range(10): |
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47 | 47 | print i, |
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48 | 48 | print "A big number:",2**34 |
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49 | 49 | |
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50 | 50 | An interactive Python session:: |
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51 | 51 | |
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52 | 52 | >>> from IPython.utils.path import get_ipython_dir |
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53 | 53 | >>> get_ipython_dir() |
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54 | 54 | '/home/fperez/.config/ipython' |
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55 | 55 | |
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56 | 56 | An IPython session: |
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57 | 57 | |
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58 | 58 | .. code-block:: ipython |
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59 | 59 | |
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60 | 60 | In [7]: import IPython |
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61 | 61 | |
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62 | 62 | In [8]: print "This IPython is version:",IPython.__version__ |
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63 | 63 | This IPython is version: 0.9.1 |
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64 | 64 | |
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65 | 65 | In [9]: 2+4 |
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66 | 66 | Out[9]: 6 |
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67 | 67 | |
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68 | 68 | |
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69 | 69 | A bit of shell code: |
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70 | 70 | |
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71 | 71 | .. code-block:: bash |
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72 | 72 | |
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73 | 73 | cd /tmp |
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74 | 74 | echo "My home directory is: $HOME" |
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75 | 75 | ls |
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76 | 76 | |
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77 | 77 | Docstring format |
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78 | 78 | ================ |
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79 | 79 | |
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80 | 80 | Good docstrings are very important. Unfortunately, Python itself only provides |
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81 | 81 | a rather loose standard for docstrings [PEP257]_, and there is no universally |
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82 | 82 | accepted convention for all the different parts of a complete docstring. |
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83 | 83 | However, the NumPy project has established a very reasonable standard, and has |
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84 | 84 | developed some tools to support the smooth inclusion of such docstrings in |
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85 | 85 | Sphinx-generated manuals. Rather than inventing yet another pseudo-standard, |
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86 | 86 | IPython will be henceforth documented using the NumPy conventions; we carry |
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87 | 87 | copies of some of the NumPy support tools to remain self-contained, but share |
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88 | 88 | back upstream with NumPy any improvements or fixes we may make to the tools. |
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89 | 89 | |
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90 | 90 | The NumPy documentation guidelines [NumPyDocGuide]_ contain detailed |
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91 | 91 | information on this standard, and for a quick overview, the NumPy example |
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92 | 92 | docstring [NumPyExampleDocstring]_ is a useful read. |
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93 | 93 | |
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94 | 94 | |
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95 | 95 | For user-facing APIs, we try to be fairly strict about following the above |
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96 | 96 | standards (even though they mean more verbose and detailed docstrings). |
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97 | 97 | Wherever you can reasonably expect people to do introspection with:: |
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98 | 98 | |
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99 | 99 | In [1]: some_function? |
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100 | 100 | |
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101 | 101 | the docstring should follow the NumPy style and be fairly detailed. |
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102 | 102 | |
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103 | 103 | For purely internal methods that are only likely to be read by others extending |
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104 | 104 | IPython itself we are a bit more relaxed, especially for small/short methods |
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105 | 105 | and functions whose intent is reasonably obvious. We still expect docstrings |
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106 | 106 | to be written, but they can be simpler. For very short functions with a |
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107 | 107 | single-line docstring you can use something like:: |
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108 | 108 | |
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109 | 109 | def add(a, b): |
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110 | 110 | """The sum of two numbers. |
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111 | 111 | """ |
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112 | 112 | code |
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113 | 113 | |
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114 | 114 | and for longer multiline strings:: |
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115 | 115 | |
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116 | 116 | def add(a, b): |
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117 | 117 | """The sum of two numbers. |
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118 | 118 | |
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119 | 119 | Here is the rest of the docs. |
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120 | 120 | """ |
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121 | 121 | code |
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122 | 122 | |
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123 | 123 | |
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124 | 124 | Here are two additional PEPs of interest regarding documentation of code. |
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125 | 125 | While both of these were rejected, the ideas therein form much of the basis of |
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126 | 126 | docutils (the machinery to process reStructuredText): |
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127 | 127 | |
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128 | 128 | * `Docstring Processing System Framework <http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0256.html>`_ |
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129 | 129 | * `Docutils Design Specification <http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0258.html>`_ |
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130 | 130 | |
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131 | 131 | .. note:: |
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132 | 132 | |
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133 | 133 | In the past IPython used epydoc so currently many docstrings still use |
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134 | 134 | epydoc conventions. We will update them as we go, but all new code should |
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135 | 135 | be documented using the NumPy standard. |
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136 | 136 | |
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137 | 137 | Building and uploading |
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138 | 138 | ====================== |
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139 | 139 | The built docs are stored in a separate repository. Through some github magic, |
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140 | 140 | they're automatically exposed as a website. It works like this: |
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141 | 141 | |
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142 | 142 | * You will need to have sphinx and latex installed. In Ubuntu, install |
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143 | 143 | ``texlive-latex-recommended texlive-latex-extra texlive-fonts-recommended``. |
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144 | 144 | Install the latest version of sphinx from PyPI (``pip install sphinx``). |
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145 | 145 | * Ensure that the development version of IPython is the first in your system |
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146 | 146 | path. You can either use a virtualenv, or modify your PYTHONPATH. |
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147 | 147 | * Switch into the docs directory, and run ``make gh-pages``. This will build |
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148 | 148 | your updated docs as html and pdf, then automatically check out the latest |
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149 | 149 | version of the docs repository, copy the built docs into it, and commit your |
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150 | 150 | changes. |
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151 | 151 | * Open the built docs in a web browser, and check that they're as expected. |
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152 | 152 | * (When building the docs for a new tagged release, you will have to add its link to |
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153 | 153 | index.rst, then run ``python build_index.py`` to update index.html. Commit the |
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154 | 154 | change.) |
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155 | 155 | * Upload the docs with ``git push``. This only works if you have write access to |
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156 | 156 | the docs repository. |
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157 | 157 | * If you are building a version that is not the current dev branch, nor a tagged release, |
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158 | 158 | then you must run gh-pages.py directly with ``python gh-pages.py <version>``, and *not* |
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159 | 159 | with ``make gh-pages``. |
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160 | 160 | |
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161 | 161 | .. [reStructuredText] reStructuredText. http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html |
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162 | 162 | .. [Sphinx] Sphinx. http://sphinx.pocoo.org/ |
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163 | 163 | .. [MatplotlibDocGuide] http://matplotlib.sourceforge.net/devel/documenting_mpl.html |
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164 | 164 | .. [PEP257] PEP 257. http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0257.html |
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165 | 165 | .. [NumPyDocGuide] NumPy documentation guide. https://github.com/numpy/numpy/blob/master/doc/HOWTO_DOCUMENT.rst.txt |
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166 |
.. [NumPyExampleDocstring] NumPy example docstring. https:// |
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166 | .. [NumPyExampleDocstring] NumPy example docstring. https://github.com/numpy/numpy/blob/master/doc/HOWTO_BUILD_DOCS.rst.txt | |
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167 | 167 |
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