Logged In: YES 
user_id=995755

> Rather than spending time on performance measurement, it is
> best to focus on other goals.  Aim for the smallest amount
> of code, the neatest output, greatest ease of use, and the
> simplest way to change the output appearance.

Noted.

> The size of the docs is one metric of ease of use.  Ideally,
> it would  take a paragraph or two to explain.

So far I've patched the libdifflib.tex file with about that
amount of material.  It details the "out-of-box" methods for
generating HTML side by side differences.  It does not
address templates that we are leaving public to adjust the
output.  Should the documentation be left simple with just a
reference to the doc string documentation within the module
for further information about using the templates to adjust
the output? 

> Also, write some sample code that produces a different
> output appearance (XML for example).  How easy was it to 
> do.

The _mdiff() function could be used by those interested in
doing side by side diffs with other markup such as XML. 
Previously you had mentioned that we should hide this
function for now so we can reserve the right to change the
interface.  Truthfully I did not mind this decision because
I don't think there is much need for it and it does avoid
alot of documentation work to explain how to use it :-)  

> The goal is to focus the code into three parts:  the
> underlying ndiff, converting ndiff to side-by-side, and
> output formatting.

1) ndiff() is what it is and I had no need to change it.

2) converting ndiff() to side-by-side is handled (and
packaged neatly) by _mdiff().  The code in my opinion is
well written and well commented.  It is not public code so
documentation for the python manuals is not required.

3) There has been a great deal of discussion regarding
output formatting (early on a fair amount of it was done
through private emails, but as of late everything is being
logged here).  IMHO I think the interface has shaped up very
well, but I am still open for more suggestions.  To date
most of the feedback I have gotten is on the API and the
output.  I haven't heard much about the code.