The Evolution of Python 3

chromatic writes to tell us that O'Reilly has an interview with Guido van Rossum on the evolutionary process that gave us Python 3.0 and what is in store for the future. "I'd like to reiterate that at this point, it's a very personal choice to decide whether to use 3.0 or 2.6. You don't run the risk of being left behind by taking a conservative stance at this point. 2.6 will be just as well supported by the same group of core Python developers as 3.0. At the same time, we're also not sort of deemphasizing the importance and quality of 3.0. So if you are not held back by external requirements like dependencies on packages or third party software that hasn't been ported to 3.0 yet or working in an environment where everyone else is using another version. If you're learning Python for the first time, 3.0 is a great way to learn the language. There's a couple of things that trip over beginners have been removed."

Comments

Re:Oh good.

[SatanicPuppy]

I'll preface this by saying that I program primarily in brace-based languages.

Braces suck in the worst possible way as a method of delineation. Let me give an example:

while(...){if(...){if(...){}elseif(...){}}}

That's clearly the suck, so we break it out like:

while(...){
    if(...){
          if(...){
          }elseif(...){}
    }
}

...at which point we realize that the braces are basically useless, since the code is unreadable without the whitespace. Python just forces you to use a readable formatting, and it's not all that hard to get used to.

Re:Oh good.

[hwyhobo]

at which point we realize that the braces are basically useless, since the code is unreadable without the whitespace.

No, it means the code is hard to read, but it still works. You can reformat that block, or you can change the spaces (tabs, number of spaces), and it will still work. In Python, it may look okay, and be readable, but it won't work.

I guess it is a matter of priorities.

BTW, I like Python (and have almost given up on Perl 6), but the white space thing drives me crazy.