[Python-Dev] Python 3 migration status update across some key subcommunities (was Re: 2.7 is here until 2020, please don't call it a waste.) (original) (raw)

Stephen J. Turnbull stephen at xemacs.org
Sun May 31 17:39:14 CEST 2015

Florian Bruhin writes:

I think a big issue here is the lack of good newcomer tutorials for Python 3.

My business students (who are hardly advanced programmers) don't take tutorials seriously. They're way too focused on getting results. And there it's the "Doing with Python" books that are the killer. They just cargo cult those books, which are almost all still Python-2-focused in my experience.

I don't think there's much we can do about those books except hope they're popular enough to justify new editions in short order, but I did want to point out that tutorials are not the only way beginners are introduced to Python, and a lot of those entry ports remain Python-2-oriented.

What I would really like to see is a Python 3 (and if you really need Python 2, here's how it differs) version of Python: Essential Reference.

BTW, for my students the main thing that trips them is not Unicode, but rather things like the print function (vs. statement in Python 2).

But I also think nobody fresh to Python should start learning Python 2 now, except when there's a compelling reason (such as unported libraries without alternatives).

I agree, but the cargo cult thing is big for people coming to Python because somebody told them it's a good way to do something practical. (Fortunately my students have to deal with the insane proliferation of encodings in Japan, so "less mojibake" is a compelling reason for Python 3. I get no backtalk.)

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