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

A.M. Kuchling amk at amk.ca
Thu Dec 4 22:31:04 CET 2008

On Thu, Dec 04, 2008 at 08:20:34PM +0000, Paul Moore wrote:

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.

Actually I want it to be an entirely separate page so that we can point people to it.

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!

Well, at least not until you decide you need some particular external library that hasn't been ported to 3.0 yet.

For example, if you go to discussion threads such as <http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7h7d7/python_3000_is_ready/>, you can see people making statements like "I've been holding off learning it until 3000 went gold."

But I think starting with Python 3.0 is a bad idea for a newbie, because they'll be limited in what they can do until the libraries have been ported. They can do some tasks (command-line tools, Fibonacci functions, Tk GUIs), but can they use the fancy new web framework they've just read about? Write a game? Draw graphs with matplotlib? Use and extend an application such as Roundup? Bzzt, no, not yet!

Starting with 3.0 is starting out on an island. While I expect the island will grow in territory over time, I'm worried that new learners will automatically go for the highest version number, find their available tools are highly restricted, and get frustrated.

Perhaps the statement could say something like "we do not expect most Python packages will be ported to the 3.x series until around the time 3.1 is released in X months." (where X=12? 6?)

--amk

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