[Python-Dev] [Python-3000] RELEASED Python 3.0 final (original) (raw)

Terry Reedy tjreedy at udel.edu
Thu Dec 4 17:47:22 CET 2008

Guido van Rossum wrote:

Python 3.0 (a.k.a. "Python 3000" or "Py3k") represents a major milestone in Python's history, and was nearly three years in the making. This is a new version of the language that is incompatible with the 2.x line of releases,

I think this

while remaining true to BDFL Guido van Rossum's vision. Some things you will notice include:

* Fixes to many old language warts * Removal of long deprecated features and redundant syntax * Improvements in, and a reorganization of, the standard library * Changes to the details of how built-in objects like strings and dicts work * ...and many more new features While these changes were made without concern for backward compatibility,

and this could give some people a mis-impression, most likely negative, as to the magnitude and nature of the change. Most of the code I am now writing would, I believe, run with 2.5 except for print(..., file=xxx). And I know that there was concern for backward compatibility to the point that some changes were rejected (renaming builtins) or delayed (deleting duplicate test asserts) for that reason. So I would soften the statements to "... version of the language that is partially incompatible with... " and "were made without being bound by backward compatibility,"

tjr

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