set_defaults() vs set_default()

For reasons that I can no longer remember, Optik has two methods for
setting default values for option destinations:

  parser.set_defaults(verbose=1,
                      mode="advanced",
                      clobber=False)

and

  parser.set_default("verbose", 1)
  parser.set_default("mode", "advanced")
  parser.set_default("clobber", False)

I have never documented set_default(), only set_defaults().  So only
people who grovel around in the code would know about set_default(), and
only people who enjoy using a more awkward, less-convenient interface
would even bother with it.  The only tiny advantage to set_default() is
that it could be more useful when your option destinations and their
default values are data-driven rather than hard-coded.  And that
objection is pretty easy to counter:

  parser.set_defaults(**defaults)

Would anyone care if set_default() disappeared in the next major Optik
release (whether that's 1.6 or 2.0)?

        Greg
-- 
Greg Ward <[email protected]>                         http://www.gerg.ca/
Clarke's Law:
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.


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