PEP0238 lament

[Erik Max Francis]

Guido van Rossum wrote:

> As long as the -D option can change the defaults, all library code
> needs to keep the __future__ division statement.

In this case (where Python language changes start happening to the point
where a program has to declare the language features it plans to use),
wouldn't a syntax such as 

	directive float_division

make more sense?  I think the __future__ syntax is quite acceptable for
short-term hacks (i.e., you want to use a feature that's being
introduced but is not the default yet), but if such changes become
commonplace it seems that a more fundamental notation might be
preferable.

-- 
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