[Python-Dev] RELEASED Python 3.0 final

[A.M. Kuchling]

On Thu, Dec 04, 2008 at 08:20:34PM +0000, Paul Moore wrote:
> Hmm, looking back, the quote Raymond is referring to is just a
> suggestion for additional text on the 3.0 page. I agree with him that
> it's a bit too negative.

Actually I want it to be an entirely separate page so that we can
point people to it.

> has really come across yet - in spite of the warnings being all about
> compatibility issues, no-one has stressed the simple point that if
> your code is new, it doesn't have compatibility concerns!

Well, at least not until you decide you need some particular external
library that hasn't been ported to 3.0 yet.

For example, if you go to discussion threads such as
<http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/7h7d7/python_3000_is_ready/>,
you can see people making statements like "I've been holding off
learning it until 3000 went gold."

But I think starting with Python 3.0 is a bad idea for a newbie,
because they'll be limited in what they can do until the libraries
have been ported.  They can do some tasks (command-line tools,
Fibonacci functions, Tk GUIs), but can they use the fancy new web
framework they've just read about?  Write a game?  Draw graphs with
matplotlib?  Use and extend an application such as Roundup?  Bzzt, no,
not yet!

Starting with 3.0 is starting out on an island.  While I expect the
island will grow in territory over time, I'm worried that new learners
will automatically go for the highest version number, find their
available tools are highly restricted, and get frustrated.

Perhaps the statement could say something like "we do not expect
most Python packages will be ported to the 3.x series until 
around the time 3.1 is released in X months."  (where X=12?  6?)

--amk