Thanks and kudos to Python core team (was Re: Booleans, integer division,backwards compatibility; where is Python going?)

[Paul Boddie]

Peter Hansen <peter at engcorp.com> wrote in message news:<3CB5221D.EE464B76 at engcorp.com>...
> 
> In any case what's your point?  You have every right, and 
> apparently the strong motivation, to fork off your own branch
> of the language and continue development in your own fashion.
> Surely that will let you demonstrate how to bring legitimacy
> in ways the current project leads have not been able...
> 
> So I suggest you take my advice, and fork off.

I think this is really unfair, as well as failing to address the valid
points raised by the contributor in question. I presume that
"Lumberjack" is, like I am, grateful for being able to use Python in
as many projects as they have time for. However, having made a
commitment to use the language, they probably feel that they're being
put in a position where they have to decide between...

  * Tracking the "latest and greatest" releases, but having to put up
    with compatibility issues, as well as needing to upgrade their
    "infrastructure" frequently (or at least more often than they
    might like).

  * Sticking with previous releases and missing out on fixes of
    potentially critical bugs, new and exciting packages, and so on.

This isn't implicitly meant as a critique of the core Python
development team (before people read it that way) - indeed, the team
have done a great job of managing compatibility issues - but this is a
choice that affects a reasonable number of people. Unfortunately, I
haven't seen substantial amounts of authoritative advice on how people
should resolve such issues, other than "upgrade and fix your code" -
something that the Red Hat experience suggests is not always possible
or desirable.

Finally, it just isn't feasible for some rogue user to fork Python and
suddenly have their needs satisfied (although I suspect that the
comment was made with this realisation in mind) - maintaining and
developing a system as complicated as Python requires a lot of effort
and we have to be thankful that there are a number of people who can
spend large amounts of their time doing so. Indeed, adopting a
language like Python often occurs when people have realised precisely
that a well-supported language is a better choice than a home-made
scripting language.

Paul