making python scripts backwards compatible

[dsavitsk]

this begs the question, why not put a comment that announces what version
you, the author, used to write the code?  This at least puts the user on
notice.

-d


"Ken Seehof" <kseehof at neuralintegrator.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.1020559148.21358.python-list at python.org...
> Shaleh wrote:
> > On 04-May-2002 J.Jacob wrote:
> > > I would like to make a request.
> > >
> > > Today I spent again some time converting python code.  It
> > > was in the SimpleXMLRPCServer.py file.  I wanted to use it
> > > remotely on another computer but it gave errors because of
> > > list comprehension and using the "".method() syntax
> > > instead of importing string.  The reason was that other
> > > computer was still running python 1.5.2.  I could not
> > > upgrade the remote computer (no root access) and even if i
> > > could the problem would come up soon again when the
> > > (mobile agent-)program relocated.
> > >
> >
> > I agree, it is quite annoying.
> >
> > It is pretty easy to write a python script to catch a lot of
> > this.  += and its
> > friends can be programmatically turned into a = a + .. same goes
> > with string
> > methods.
> >
> > list comprehensions however require human intervention.  A bigger
> > problem is
> > the change in scope rules.
> >
> > I find it particularly annoying that the python group makes this
> > assumption we
> > are all running last week's python.  Not everyone owns the machine their
> > scripts run on.
>
> That's a nice sentiment, but you need to keep in mind who creates
> the code you are complaining about.
>
> Occaisionally I make something available as open source.  Generally
> the software is something I wrote to solve a particular problem for
> me.  If I don't need it to run on python 1.5.2, it doesn't.  If I
> had a policy of making all my code run on 1.5.2, I would simply
> never download newer versions of python.  But I happen to like
> some of the new features.
>
> On the other hand, if people want their code to be usable by
> others it doesn't hurt that much to make it run on some more
> recent version.  Also, if you pay me to write python code for
> you, I will use whatever version you want.
>
> Making python programs run on 1.5.2 means not using any python
> enhancements created in the last few years.  For some volunteer
> programmers, that's too high a price to pay.
>
> Perhaps a better solution in the long run would be to encourage
> everyone to make sure none of their code runs on old python
> versions.  This will eventually pressure people to upgrade :-)
>
> This thread reminds me of a customer who was unwilling to upgrade
> his CP/M machines, and was really annoyed that anyone would
> create any of them newfangled machines :-)
>
> Speaking of which, when's python for the Kaypro coming out?
>
> Time marches on-ly yrs,
> - Ken
>
>
>