Remove unused django.utils.dates.WEEKDAYS_REV, MONTHS_3_REV

[Chris Lamb]

We have no MONTHS_REV despite having MONTHS whilst we have WEEKDAYS and its reverse WEEKDAYS_REV, as well as MONTHS_3 and MONTHS_3_REV.

[Chris Lamb]

PR: ​https://github.com/django/django/pull/9355

[Tim Graham]

MONTHS_3_REV and WEEKDAYS_REV have been in Django since the first commit ("Imported Django from private SVN repository"), but they've never been used. I'd be more inclined to remove them than to add another unused dictionary. Have you found many projects using these dicts?

[Chris Lamb]

Replying to Tim Graham:

Have you found many projects using these dicts?

I find myself reaching for them fairly often, particulary when making a custom-ish date dropdown or some (admittedly trivial) parsing.

[Tim Graham]

I also wonder if these dictionaries merit a continued presence because they are English-centric. I didn't find any usage of them in a GitHub code search.

[Chris Lamb]

Replying to Tim Graham:

I also wonder if these dictionaries merit a continued presence because they are English-centric. I didn't find any usage of them in a GitHub code search.

That's a fair comment. Shall we just remove the entire file? I'd prefer it "complete" or gone, really :)

[Tim Graham]

Only the _REV suffixed dictionaries are unused. My thinking is to remove them. django/utils/dateformat.py uses the other variables.

[Chris Lamb]

Replying to Tim Graham:

Only the _REV suffixed dictionaries are unused. My thinking is to remove them. django/utils/dateformat.py uses the other variables.

Ahhh, my bad. Well, in that case I'd err in terms of completing it (ie. applying this patch).

[Tim Graham]

Usually we've removed things in django.utils once Django no longer uses it. Offhand, I can't think of something in there that Django doesn't use.

[Chris Lamb]

Cool, so in summary, we have three paths forward:

a) Remove the unused _REV
b) Complete the set.
c) No action.

You seem to be in favour of "a", I'm leaning towards "b". I'm easy with either - let me know which you would like and I'll go ahead and update the PR/whatever. :)

[Claude Paroz]

I'd favour "a", too, unless we find a general-enough use case to demonstrate their utility.

[Tim Graham <timograham@…>]

In 648957b:

Fixed #28798 -- Removed unused django.utils.dates.WEEKDAYS_REV, MONTHS_3_REV.