[Python-Dev] Re: Version Fatigue

[Christian Tismer]

Guido van Rossum wrote:
>>Guido, I'm not sure that you are always aware what
>>people actually like about Python and what they dislike.
>>I have heared such complaints from so many people,
>>that I think there are reasonably many who don't share
>>your judgement.
> 
> 
> Tough.  People used to like it because they trusted my judgement.
> Maybe I should stop listening to others. :-)

I thought you did already? :-)

> Seriously, the community is large enough that we can't expect
> everybody to like the same things.  There are reasonably many who
> still do share my judgement.

As the community grows, your audience also seems to
change. Newbies are more comfortable with new features.
The crowd of people like me who have become accustomed
to slow and resistant motion in Python over the years
are now no longer the main target of Python's develoment.
I think I could spell about 20 "oldtimers" without
thinking, who might have similar feelings.

[type, class, metaclass]

> No surprise that you, always the mathematician, like the most
> brain-exploding features. :-)

It is not for the features. It is for the elegance of
the concept, the great backward compatibility, the
nice convergence of concepts that seemed to be impossible
to get married. This is real "Kunst", whether I'm a math
guy or a musician.

> And note the contradiction, which you share with everybody else: you
> don't want new features, except the three that you absolutely need to
> have.  And you see nothing wrong with this contradiction.

Many people share this, but not me, sorry. I didn't
request any change to Python since years. I don't need
any of the recent changes, but I can of course use them.

>>All in all Python is evolving good. Maybe we could
>>slow a little down, please?
> 
> I'm trying.  I'm really trying.  Please give me some credit.

I checked your soundness. How much do you want?

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