[issue35779] Print friendly version message in REPL

[Eric Snow]

Eric Snow <ericsnowcurrently at gmail.com> added the comment:

Hi Ma Lin!  Thanks for the suggestion.  We appreciate your interest in making Python better.

It's unclear from your messages what is motivating your request.  You mentioned middle school students, but that didn't sound like your actual motivator.  Knowing what problems the current message has caused will help us identify the appropriate solution (including potentially the one you've suggested).  So would you mind clarifying what would be the concrete value of simplifying the initial version message printed by the REPL?

As Steven noted, there are several valid reasons to keep the message as-is:

* it's pretty much the same as it's always been (this matters because, for better or worse, sometimes people rely on the format)
* the full information can be useful when a user submits a bug report here
* the code that produces that version string is simpler (granted, the maintenance burden wouldn't change much)
* any change introduces churn (though this wouldn't cause much, it's still something)
* "status quo wins a stalemate" [1]

Also note that the REPL version messages (along with `sys.version`) aren't particularly useful for programatically dealing with the Python version.  Here are better options for that:

* python3 --version
* sys.version_info

Finally, I'd strongly recommend that you submit a pull request to go along with this issue.  If we've done a good job then you should find the experience rewarding, even if the PR is rejected.  The change should be fairly small and localized to one place in one file.  Don't forget to add yourself to the Misc/ACKS file. :)  If you'd like some help then check out the "core mentorship" resources. [2]  The mailing list is a great place to start.  We'd love to add you to our growing list of contributors.


[1] https://www.curiousefficiency.org/posts/2011/02/status-quo-wins-stalemate.html
[2] https://www.python.org/dev/core-mentorship/

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nosy: +eric.snow

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Python tracker <report at bugs.python.org>
<https://bugs.python.org/issue35779>
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