Python 2.0 naive question

[Tim Peters]

[Tim Roberts]
> I've tried to follow the recent discussions regarding Python 2.0b1, but I
> am left with a question.

Seems a bit of an understatement <0.9 wink>.

> Is there a downside to moving from 1.5.2 to 2.0b1?

2.0b1 is a beta release:  it's not ready for production use.  However, it's
especially important for people afraid of breakage to try a beta.  If they
wait until the final release, it's too late.

> I run Python both on Win32 and on Linux.  Are .pyd files upward
> compatible,

No.

> or do I need a whole new set?

Yes.  They need to be recompiled on Windows, partly because the name of the
DLL has changed (to python20.dll -- this is meant to make it *easier* to
have more than one installation kicking about, btw).

> Are there many changes which will break old source?

No.

> Will the new Python recompile .pyc's, or can it just read the old ones?

It will read the old ones, see that they're out of date, and recompile from
source.  .pyc's are an internal optimization (basically just a cache of
compiled code), so you ought to be neutral on this one.  If we get enough
complaints about that, we'll follow Perl's lead:  get rid of .pyc's
entirely. and recompile everything from scratch every time we see it <wink>.

> ..
> What about mySqlDb?

No idea here.

> When perl went from 3.0 to 4.0, it was such a huge rethink that I
> stayed on 3.0 for longer than I should have.  I'd like to know if the
> same kind of thing is true here.

No.  Several new features were added, many bugs were fixed, most old code
runs fine.  See

    http://www.pythonlabs.com/tech/python2.0/news.html

for an overview of the changes.

you'll-probably-like-it!-ly y'rs  - tim