[Python-Dev] 2.7 Release? 2.7 == last of the 2.x line?

[P.J. Eby]

At 11:27 PM 11/4/2009 +0000, Floris Bruynooghe wrote:
><cynical mode>
>
>You have time to read this thread but no time to read "What's New In
>Python 3"?
>
></cynical mode>

Given that the average developer using tons of existing libraries on 
2.x is unlikely to see any killer benefits in moving to 3.x, it's a 
natural attitude to have.

I fought this same battle with setuptools for a long time before it 
sank in that people who don't perceive a need aren't going to RTFM, 
no matter how much time said RTFMing would save them in the long run, 
vs. sitting around complaining.

IOW, once someone has become annoyed by the mere appearance of a 
necessity to deal with something that appears to be being foisted on 
them (whether it's setuptools or Python 3), the natural tendency is 
to minimize any actual work that would move in the direction of the 
thing they feel forced to deal with.

For me, the closest thing to a killer feature in 3.x is argument type 
declarations, and it'd be a mild convenience at best.  From a 
distance, many of the other changes appear like anti-features, if 
only because they're changing what I've been used to for twelve-plus 
years.  (A few, like the removal of __metaclass__-in-locals support, 
are an active hindrance to porting.)

So no, I haven't actually tried to port anything, nor have I done 
more than lightly skim the porting docs...  looking for some reason 
why I'd *want* to move to Python 3.  Heck, I have yet to use 2.6 to 
run any production code, and find some of *its* changes a bit 
annoying from a porting perspective.  (E.g. dropping the "sets" module.)

To make Py3 migration worthwhile to developers with heavy investment 
in the 2.x lines (and especially those supporting all the way back to 
2.3 and 2.4), it'd have to have some *really* killer features.  That 
is, be more like a Python 3000, and less like a Python 2.6 with a few 
bells and whistles, hampered by having to relearn some of the basic 
types and a soon-to-be-rebuilt standard library.

Even if, in truth, the cost-benefit ratio right now *is* good for 
migrating to 3.x, nobody's doing a good job at promoting what those 
benefits are.

(And it being easy to port to is NOT a benefit: nobody cares how easy 
it is to do something they don't see a reason to do in the first place.)