[3.12] Update the documentation howto index page and group docs into 3 logical sections (GH-119366) (#127811)

(cherry picked from commit a26d27e)

Co-authored-by: Carol Willing <carolcode@willingconsulting.com>
Co-authored-by: Ned Batchelder <ned@nedbatchelder.com>

Author: 3 people

Doc/howto/enum.rst

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+.. _enum-howto:
+
 ==========
 Enum HOWTO
 ==========

Doc/howto/functional.rst

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+.. _functional-howto:
+
 ********************************
   Functional Programming HOWTO
 ********************************

Doc/howto/index.rst

@@ -2,16 +2,14 @@
  Python HOWTOs
 ***************
 
-Python HOWTOs are documents that cover a single, specific topic,
-and attempt to cover it fairly completely. Modelled on the Linux
-Documentation Project's HOWTO collection, this collection is an
+Python HOWTOs are documents that cover a specific topic in-depth.
+Modeled on the Linux Documentation Project's HOWTO collection, this collection is an
 effort to foster documentation that's more detailed than the
 Python Library Reference.
 
-Currently, the HOWTOs are:
-
 .. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 1
+   :hidden:
 
    cporting.rst
    curses.rst
@@ -33,3 +31,32 @@ Currently, the HOWTOs are:
    annotations.rst
    isolating-extensions.rst
    mro.rst
+
+General:
+
+* :ref:`annotations-howto`
+* :ref:`argparse-tutorial`
+* :ref:`descriptorhowto`
+* :ref:`enum-howto`
+* :ref:`functional-howto`
+* :ref:`ipaddress-howto`
+* :ref:`logging-howto`
+* :ref:`logging-cookbook`
+* :ref:`regex-howto`
+* :ref:`sortinghowto`
+* :ref:`unicode-howto`
+* :ref:`urllib-howto`
+
+Advanced development:
+
+* :ref:`curses-howto`
+* :ref:`isolating-extensions-howto`
+* :ref:`python_2.3_mro`
+* :ref:`socket-howto`
+* :ref:`cporting-howto`
+
+Debugging and profiling:
+
+* :ref:`gdb`
+* :ref:`instrumentation`
+* :ref:`perf_profiling`

Doc/howto/logging.rst

@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+.. _logging-howto:
+
 =============
 Logging HOWTO
 =============