Talk:Tim Peters (software engineer)

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Timsort

Would https://www.python.org/download/releases/2.3/highlights/ qualify by the quality standards as a reference for Timsort's inclusion in Python as of Python 2.3? Intchanter (talk) 18:31, 8 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

As that's the official release notes for Python 2.3, it should easily qualify. Thanks! You should add it to Timsort as well. RW Dutton (talk) 13:42, 11 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Notability of Tim Peters

I see that a question has been raised about the notability of Tim Peters. Peters is the second-most-famous core Python developer and the creator of probably the most widely adopted default sorting algorithm, the one which bears his name. We can discuss this further here, if necessary. RW Dutton (talk) 00:07, 30 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Are there reliable sources that discuss Peters extensively beyond the recent suspension news? Morbidthoughts (talk) 06:17, 30 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Sure. Unfortunately the web interface to the Linux Weekly News archive search isn't very linkable, so you'll have to, say, set "Tim Peters" as your search, choose "Select all" on both "Content type" and "Categories" and order by date. There's also some more Peters coverage in the unindexed pre-May-2002 archives, such as https://lwn.net/1998/0827/ and indeed https://lwn.net/1999/0610/devel.php3 He also has some coverage in Linux Journal (including one reference to "Tim Peters, a famous Python guru"; one article referring to his work on SpamBayes which isn't mentioned in Tim Peters yet; and one interview with Guido van Rossum which is already linked from Tim Peters.) The PSF itself is of course also a reliable source, and it has commended Peters at length at least twice (see article). RW Dutton (talk) 13:04, 30 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Peters has also been named repeatedly in published books from established publishers including O'Reilly, No Starch, Manning and MIT Press, often in connection with the Zen of Python or Timsort: see eg. https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22tim+peters%22+timsort and https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22tim+peters%22+python. The Hitchhiker's Guide to Python published by O'Reilly (ISBN 9781491933220) contains this potted biography:

Tim Peters is a longtime Python user who eventually became one of its most prolific and tenacious core developers (creating Python's sorting algorithm, Timsort), and a frequent Net presence. He at one point was rumored to be a long-running Python port of the Richard Stallman AI program stallman.el. The original conspiracy theory appeared on a listserv in the late 1990s.

RW Dutton (talk) 13:40, 30 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Do you have any opinion on whether this suspension is WP:DUE given the rest of the coverage about him given WP:NPF? There are several editors that try to expand on the allegations against him. Morbidthoughts (talk) 01:15, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I agree. Most readers will assume that any accusation that is being reported on must be at least credible. But in the last few years there has been a huge rash of unreasonable and malicious accusations against private individuals that result in huge damage to careers before they are proven untrue or even absurd. Up until now, such accusers have faced minimal backlash, but if that changes, Wikipedia could get caught up in it.

It is highly unfair report on an accusation without any opportunity for defence or verification as to the reasonableness of the group making it. Algr (talk) 20:53, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia has to ignore what is obviously true for people with topic knowledge. If that were not done, cranks would arrive and claim that their favorite youtuber is known to be a legend. Rather than entering into those kind of debates, the procedure here is to rely on what reliable sources say. If no reliable and independent source has written about a person, they are not regarded as "notable" for Wikipedia. Johnuniq (talk) 08:58, 30 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]