[Python-Dev] Replacement for print in Python 3.0 (original) (raw)

skip@pobox.com skip at pobox.com
Sat Sep 3 04:17:15 CEST 2005 

Guido> Is it...

Guido> - Going from statement to function?
Guido> - Losing the automatically inserted space?
Guido> - Having to write more to get a newline appended?
Guido> - Losing the name 'print'?

You forgot

- gratuitous breakage?

I realize you're talking about Py3K, so breakage is allowed, but the advantages of a print function/method over the current print statement don't seem sufficient to warrant the level of code change (probably simple but tedious) that will be necessary to convert 2.x to 3.x.

Guido> Consider this: if Python *didn't* have a print statement, but it
Guido> had a built-in function with the same functionality (including,
Guido> say, keyword parameters to suppress the trailing newline or the
Guido> space between items); would anyone support a proposal to make it
Guido> a statement instead?

Nope, but there is a large body of code out there that does use print statements already. Again, I know you're prepared for breakage, but that doesn't necessarily mean a completely blank sheet of paper.

Skip

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