[Python-Dev] Re: [Python-checkins] CVS: python/dist/src/Include rangeobject.h,2.16,2.17

[Guido van Rossum]

Yes, the lawyers have a way of scaring us all, don't they. :-)

I hear clearly that you want the advanced xrange() behavior to
generate a warning before I take it out.  I still think that's
unnecessary, given that nobody in their right mind uses it.  But since
people who are out of their mind have access to lawyers too, you can
go ahead and restore the old code and stuff it with warnings.  Make
sure to add a warning for every feature that I've taken out!

(Do you think you'll need to add a warning to the __contains__
implementation?  Taking that away doesn't change the functionality,
but changes the *performance* from O(1) to O(n).)

Regarding the yield statement: I'd love to require a future statement,
but the current support for future statements doesn't support
modifying the parser based on the presence of future statements, and I
don't know how to resolve that, short of totally rewriting the parser
or scanning ahead looking for a future statement with some regular
expression.

Sobering thought: It's possible, given all the other changes that I'm
thinking about, that it just won't be possible to make Python 2.2
fully backwards compatible.  Should we rename it to 3.0?  Forget about
the changes?  Label it as experimental and encourage ISPs to install
it as an "alternative" version, only available by using "python2.2"?

PS: I am beginning to believe that the ThreadingTCPServer /
SocketServer problems reported on SF are serious enough to warrant
fixing in 2.1.1.  I'll try to get to the bottom of it ASAP, but if
someone else could look into this I'd be grateful too.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)