Dijkstra on Python

[Michael Hudson]

Robin Becker <robin at jessikat.fsnet.co.uk> writes:

> I believe the real Python universe is stuck at 1.5.2 because of RH.

Fortunately, Redhat 8 will have Python 2.2.1.

> Nothing I have seen in 2.2 is really that much better than 1.5.2 except
> perhaps for the unicode features. I would like to be able to use the 2.2
> yield/generator/iterator stuff (plus perhaps a better cgitb) but it's
> not back portable so reportlab stays stuck in a time warp.

I think the type/class/properties stuff will make quite a difference
in times to come.  But obviously not if you have to cater for 1.5.2.

> Key word changes are the worst eg Andy Robinson's intricate interest
> rate yield calculations will need reworking at 2.3/4 next PBF version
> etc etc.

Surely it won't be *too* painful in this case?  sed -e
's,yield,yield_,' seems to be a good start...

> There's a lot of pain involved in moving things onwards which is why
> people squeal when others demand that feature x be deprecated and
> removed in 6 months.

I really hope features aren't removed because someone thinks they're
now a bad idea, particularly if there's no alternative to the feature
in older versions.  But sometimes something has to give: generators
required a new keyword, and short of making the keyword something
ridiculous that was going to break a certain amount of code.

Cheers,
M.

-- 
34. The string is a stark data structure and everywhere it is
    passed there is much duplication of process.  It is a perfect
    vehicle for hiding information.
  -- Alan Perlis, http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/perlis-alan/quotes.html