[Python-Dev] decimal module portability to 2.3? (original) (raw)

Raymond Hettinger python at rcn.com
Thu Aug 19 23:47:26 CEST 2004

Batista, Facundo wrote:

> Could decimal be backported to 2.3 and be included in some 2.3.5? Don't know > if this behaviour is common to Python.

[Brett]

That can't be done. That would introduce new features in a bug release which is a big no-no.

Right. Though keeping it 2.3 compatible means people can download it as a standalone module just like any other third-party module. This worked out well for sets.py which I've made 2.2 compatible.

By keeping decimal 2.3 compatible, folks can make periodic downloads to take advantage of bug fixes and efforts to keep it in sync with the on-going evolution of the spec.

Also, I'm expecting that at some point in the future, there will be a concerted effort to improve its performance -- it runs two orders of magnitude slower than we would like (see the telco benchmark in the sandbox).

Raymond

More information about the Python-Dev mailing list