[Python-Dev] Restricted API versioning (original) (raw)

Christian Heimes lists at cheimes.de
Sun Jun 24 02:02:08 CEST 2012

Am 24.06.2012 01:44, schrieb Chris Angelico:

This strikes me as in opposition to the Python-level policy of duck typing. Would it be more appropriate to, instead of asking if it's Python 3.3.0, ask if it's a Python that supports PYFEATUREFOOBAR? Or would that result in an unnecessary proliferation of flag macros?

The version number is a sufficient rule. Flags aren't necessary as we can never remove or alter the signature of a API function. We can only add new features. Otherwise we'd break the API and binary interface (ABI) for C extensions.

C compilers, linkers, dynamic library loaders and calling conventions are limited and don't support fancy stuff like OOP.

Christian

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