[Python-Dev] Continuing 2.x

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Brett Cannon writes:

 > I think people need to stop viewing the difference between Python 2.7
 > and Python 3.2 as this crazy shift and view it from python-dev's
 > perspective;

That phrasing *is* harsh.  People also need to work with code bases
that are incompatible with Python 3.2 for various reasons, and will be
very expensive to port to 3.2.  Some, perhaps many, of those people
*do* consider Python 3 to be the way to go, and I imaginge they are
already going that way when they can.  Nevertheless, their bread-and-
butter projects are feeling pain; their world is going out of whack.

It is a "crazy shift" (or "crazy-making" shift) for them.

And for now the book writers have to feel the same way; a lot of
Python-2-based applications are going to be perfectly happy to stay
that way with Python 2.7 for years to come.  The book writers need (as
a commercial matter) to serve the new engineers who will be hired to
maintain *and extend* those products.  I suspect there will be a
substantial market for Python 2 content in Python books until 2015
(although Mark Lutz should be able to sit back and just collect
royalties on that part of his book starting in 2012).

 > You can view it as Python 3.2 is the next version after Python
 > 2.7 just like 2.7 followed to 2.6,

Kristján acknowledges that.  He's looking for some relief from his
*current* headache.

Mark's position is different.  His words suggest that he thinks that
Python.org owes the users something, although if pressed I imagine
he'd present some argument that more users will lead to development of
a better language.  I think the developers universally consider that
to be objectively false: Python 3 is a much better language, and is on
track to be a much better environment for development -- of itself and
of applications -- in 2013 than Python 2 could conceivably be.