"Programming Python" still worthwhile?

[Tim Peters]

[Martijn Faassen]
> ...
> For some reason Pythoneers in this newsgroup (me included) like to talk
> about improving the language, though it's a very nice language already.
> Although some see this as a bad sign, I think the fairly intelligent
> discussion that *usually* is the result is quite interesting. Some
> discussions excepted. :)

It's not because we loathe Python?  Hey -- you're right!

> Thanks to some newsgroup luminaries like Tim Peters (Tim, you're a
> newsgroup luminary now!),

It's better than "resident asshole", I guess.

> who seems to have programmed in just about any language in existence

There are at least 107 variants of BASIC I missed, and I only used REXX on
IBM mainframes <wink>.

> and can compare them all fairly to Python,

Oh, sure.  That's easy!  Say 5 nice things about each, then fairly conclude
that Python wins overall.  It's like filling in a tax form, except there's
no penalty for cheating.  "Perl is highly expressive, succinct, offers
exceptionally complete access to Unixisms, has the best-integrated regular
expressions in the world, and is very responsive to the ever-changing needs
of a fiercely loyal programming community.  Python blah blah blah blah blah.
Overall, then, Python is the clear winner."  Couldn't be any fairer than
that <wink>.

> the level of discussion remains fairly mature at most times. Though the
> latest Python 2 thread became a bit too emotional for my tastes in
> places.

Did someone actually write "if brains were dynamite, you couldn't blow your
nose", or did I just think it?  Now let's see who thinks I thought it about
them <0.5 wink>.

> The *true* Python 2 things are the rare statements made by Guido on it
> (and rumors of his statements :).

Overall, Python2 is a real improvement over Python.  That statement is
inoperative, though, if it turns out Python2 sucks.

for-all-we-know-now-it-will-turn-gc-on-its-head-and-throw-away-the-
    live-objects-ly y'rs  - tim