[Python-Dev] Unclear on the way forward with unsigned integers (original) (raw)

Thomas Wouters thomas@xs4all.net
Mon, 7 Oct 2002 21:06:31 +0200

On Mon, Oct 07, 2002 at 10:45:53AM -0400, Tim Peters wrote:

You seem to want most of all to avoid warning msgs, but future options don't accomplish that: it's the point of future thingies to spit out warnings about semantics that are going to change.

I don't know that it's a useful point, though. That is, the only comments I've seen about future from users in practice is from those who are annoyed by needing to say "future" all over the place to get at the new features they want right away. Alas, I haven't seen evidence that it eases migration. That could be because it works so well people don't feel a need to comment about it, but somehow that seems a tad unlikely .

Well, I can tell you that future has definately worked. Without it, I would not have been able to upgrade Python on many of our servers -- and because we don't need newer versions ourselves, they would not likely be installed at all. As it is, I can safely upgrade to the next major version when they come out, instead of having to start a lengthy and very energy-consuming customer-acceptance process. And this anal attitude towards compatibility isn't just me, it's company policy ;)

I suspect all companies that maintain python on behalf of third parties are grateful of future. Or at least, the good ones, the others merely should be grateful :)

-- Thomas Wouters <thomas@xs4all.net>

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