The old intro talked about "differences", but there were hardly any
sections describing differences, mostly MicroPython specific features.
On the other hand, we now have real "differences" chapter, though it's
mostly concerned with stdlib differences.
So, try to avoid confusion by changing wording and linking to the other
chapters and contrasting them with what is described in "MicroPython
language".
Previously, only "selected chapters" were shown in left-pane ToC (of
Read The Docs theme). These chapters were selected out of order. The
rest of chapters were hidden beyond "Documentation Contents" pseudo-
chapter. This arguably led only to confusion, as many people probably
never tried to open that pseudo-chapter, and those who did, were
confused. Such organization is even worse for PDF output, causing
chapters go in mix-mashed order.
So, instead move to single clean ToC. This will allow readers of HTML
to have access to any doc content at their fingertips (and straight
before their eyes), and will allow to finally have clean PDF docs.
Move hardware-specific optimizations to the very end of document, and
add visible note that it gives an example for Pyboard. Remove references
to specific hardware technologies, so the doc can be more naturally
used across ports. Various markup updates to adhere to the latest
docs conventions.
This causes `symbol` syntax to be equivalent to :any:`symbol`, which is
in turn the easiest way to cross-reference an arbitrary symbol in the
docs:
http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/markup/inline.html#role-any
:any: requires at least Sphinx 1.3 (for reference, Ubuntu 16.03 ships
with 1.3.6, the latest 1.6.3).
Any many of our docs, `symbol` is misused to specify arguments to
functions, etc. Refactoring that is in progress. (CODECONVENTIONS
already specify proper syntax for both arguments and xrefs, based
on CPython conventions).
This adds description of implied AbstractNIC base class, which should be
"subclasses" and implemented by a particular network device class.
This is just an initial step in that direction, the API and description
will be elabotated further.
The list starts with the simplest functionality - GPIO, proceeds to
communication interfaces (UART, SPI, I2C), the to time(r) related
things, then everything else.
For a couple of ports, there was information which directory is set
as current after boot. This information doesn't belong to "uos" module,
and is moved to boards' references (which actually already contained
information on which directory is chosen for boot, even if without
explicit mentioning that it becomes current directory, which is now
done).
This method isn't implemented in any port. It seemed to have originated
in cc3200 port, but actually never was implemented there either. In
general case, it's impossible to implement this method (for example, for
a perfect GPO, which has only output latch without any feedback look
into a CPU).
Both aren't part of generic Hardware API: It's impossible to implement
.id() method in a generic case (e.g., when Pin is instantiated by the
underlying OS/RTOS). .board attribute is an obvious space hog which
instead can be implemented on Python level if needed.
