[Python-Dev] Re: Stability and change (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido@python.org
Sun, 07 Apr 2002 17:19:39 -0400

Tightening up functions which allowed two params where a tuple was correct.

Yeah, we should have used warnings for that first.

The changes to ConfigParser bit me hard;

I think we were too careless with ConfigParser.

I think a couple other std lib changes got me, too.

In many cases my 1.5.2 code ended up better, so the urge to whine is over pretty quickly. In a broader sense, Unicode is by far the most disruptive change. My excuses for ignoring the damn stuff are disappearing.

Yeah, Unicode will continue to bite where you least expect it. :-(

> (2) Was the pain worth it, or would you prefer we'd > spent more time on > being more backwards compatible?

I don't have more than a muted grumble about backwards compatibility. Where I end up with checking the version, it's to make use of a new feature, not keep old code working. Recompiling all those extensions is the biggest pain.

Distutils to the rescue?

> > (FWIW, the hardest post 1.5.2 feature for me > > to do without is augmented assignment.) > > Since you're also a C programmer (I believe), I'm > not surprised.

Well, the other side of that coin is that I'm still only +0 on list comprehensions and -0 on lexical scoping :-).

That's OK. List comprehensions didn't incur any incompatibilities, and lexical scoping incurred only very rare ones (I think).

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)