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Python 3.0 Released

Posted by samzenpus on from the break-out-the-cigars dept.

licorna writes "The 3.0 version of Python (also known as Python3k and Python3000) just got released few hours ago. It's the first ever intentionally backwards-incompatible Python release."

2 of 357 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Libraries by Alomex · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Backward compatibility is (i) over-rated and (ii) misunderstood.

    It is over-rated in the sense that the number of current users which are inconvenienced is a very small percentage of the total number of users of the language (unless the language is in the tail end of its life, like Fortran and Cobol).

    It is misunderstood in that with the use of a simple header or import declaration it is possible to have two different versions co-exist while the transition happens. This is done in HTTP where the first thing that clients exchange is the version of the protocol they'll use. It is also done in LaTeX, where the first declaration informs the compiler which major version is being used (pre-2e or 2e).

    Kudos for Python for not being afraid to rock the backwards compatibility boat.

  2. Re:Libraries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I can't help but think it was designed by someone who was pissed off that people didn't format their code the way he formatted his code. Since his way was obviously the "right" way, why not write a language that forces you to do it that way? Problem solved!

    This is actually the main reason I haven't worked with Python beyond tweaking a few existing scripts. The funny thing is that (unless I'm misremembering the syntax) I already code using that style in other languages. But the idea of forcing that style on everyone annoys me enough to put me off of the language as a whole.

    I was really hoping that 3.0 would remove that petty stupidity. Doing so would even retain backwards compatibility with prior versions!

    I just don't get it when people say that, its sorta like saying you don't use language X because you have to store numbers as floats or integers instead of char variables.

    I honestly like the fact that Python forces a coding format, I hate opening someone else's source and spending the first minutes trying to understand how they layout things if at all. And yes if people were smart it would be easy to pickup anyones code, sadly that world doesn't exist.

    No its not petty stupidity, not using Python because of your reasons is sadly what I would call petty stupidity.