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

Paul Moore p.f.moore at gmail.com
Thu Dec 4 21:20:34 CET 2008

2008/12/4 Barry Warsaw <barry at python.org>:

* that 3.1 will rearrange the standard library in mostly-known ways, and * that we expect people to use 3.0 mostly for compatibility testing, not going into serious production use until 3.1 or maybe even 3.2. The latter statement worries me. It seems to unnecessarily undermine adoption of 3.0. It essentially says, "don't use this". Is that what we want? ISTM, 3.0 is in pretty good shape. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with it. The number one adoption issue is external, i.e. how quickly key third-party modules get converted. I agree. I tried to put a positive spin on the announcement, and the backward compatibility issue in particular. I probably failed.

Hmm, looking back, the quote Raymond is referring to is just a suggestion for additional text on the 3.0 page. I agree with him that it's a bit too negative.

The announcement itself hits just the right note in my view. You (Barry) seem to have got it pretty well on target.

One thing I'd like to see more clearly stated is that there's no reason NOT to use Python 3.0 for new code. I don't think that message has really come across yet - in spite of the warnings being all about compatibility issues, no-one has stressed the simple point that if your code is new, it doesn't have compatibility concerns!

Paul.

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