[Python-ideas] Things that won't change (proposed PEP)

[Todd]

On Thu, Jan 12, 2017 at 2:33 PM, Sven R. Kunze <srkunze at mail.de> wrote:

> Good evening to everybody,
>
> On 12.01.2017 03:37, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
>
>> I have a proposal for an Informational PEP that lists things which will
>>
>> not change in Python. If accepted, it could be linked to from the signup
>>
>> page for the mailing list, and be the one obvious place to point
>>
>> newcomers to if they propose the same old cliches.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thoughts?
>>
>
>
> Let me first express my general thoughts on this topic.
>
> First of all, I am anti-censor and pro-change.
>
> So you can imagine that I am not overly excited to see such a document
> form for Python in general. If it's just to prevent spam on this mailing
> list and to reduce the signal/noise ratio here, I tend to agree with you if
> this document were to be attached to this mailing list only.
>
> I don't think Python as the umbrella term for a language, an ecosystem,
> etc. will benefit from preventing change and from banning thoughts no
> matter how strange they may seem first and to some people.
>
>
> Alright, after that's sorted out, I took my time to go through the list
> below in case the document will be accepted or made official in any form.
> So, please find my comment inserted there and some general thoughts at the
> very end.
>
>

There is no "censorship" or "banning thoughts" going on here.  Even with
this PEP, people are free to think about and talk about how Python could
work differently all they want.  What this PEP does is tell them that
certain decisions have been made about how the Python language is going to
work, so they should be aware that such talk isn't going to actually result
in any changes to the language.  It is a matter about being honest and
realistic about what Python is and is not, about what parts of the language
are considered defining features.  No one will be banned from telling
python developers they think one of these features should be changed, but
they can know ahead of time that such requests won't be productive and will
be able to include that information in their decision about how much time
to spend on such requests.  So I think the importance of this PEP extend
beyond just the python-ideas list.
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