Deposing Dictators

[Tim Peters]

[Terry Reedy, to Stephen Horne]
> ...
> This is the first Python change in 11 years to break forward
> compatibility of old code in a major way.

Changing str(long) to stop producing a trailing "L" provoked major breakage
in *some* code bases, and indeed we're still hearing about problems that
causes.  It's curious, because when that change was made, there was much
rejoicing and virtually no opposition (I knew it would break some of my
code, but didn't care -- chopping off the trailing "L" for display was
always a PITA, and delighted to get rid of it -- and that's what everyone
said at the time).

> ...
> The BDFL title is partly a recognition of Guido's original and ongoing
> prime authorship (=speakership =dictatorship) of the ongoing works
> known as Python (the language specification) and CPython (the
> implementation thereof).

Guido ceased being the primary author years ago; indeed, from 1.5.2 to 2.0,
you'd be hard pressed to find anything he did to the code base besides
change the license and copyright notices 31 times <wink>.  All the major
new-in-2.0 features were implemented by others.  It's great to see him
coding again for 2.2, but the D part is wrt the design of the language, and
the FL part will vanish the second time he screws up bigtime:  Open Source
is a meritocracy; those who use BDFL with affection are cheerfully
acknowledging that Guido earned their respect.

> It is also partly a joke (a pun on the varied meanings of dictator)
> perpetrated and perpetuated by Tim Peters and a few others.  Taking it
> too seriously, in the negative meaning, as others have done even worse
> than you, seems to me a bit hysterical.  I think something else like
> LFL (Leader For Life) might have been and now maybe would be a better
> choice (Tim?).

I didn't originate it, and the BDFL meme is too well established to go away.
Besides, just think of all the books, articles, old postings, and web pages
that would break <wink>.

like-the-bible-says-the-poor-in-humor-will-always-be-with-us-ly y'rs
    - tim