Question about Python

[Cameron Laird]

In article <42c54149$1 at griseus.its.uu.se>,
Jan Danielsson  <jan.danielsson at gmail.com> wrote:
>Hello all,
>
>   I recently started using Python, and I must say I like it. Both the
>language and libraries available for it.
>
>   Background: I have written an application which I use to keep track
>of my personal economy. I wrote it in Java because I wanted to learn the
>language for a course in programming at my university. Now that I have
>acquired an interrest in Python I was thinking about porting my program
>to Python.
>
>   But then it occured to me.. I started writing my program in Java
>pre-1.5. Then came 1.5, I upgraded, and my program would still compile
>and run, though I did get three warnings. The language had changed a
>little bit; I had to assign a type to three arrays. That wasn't so bad.
>
>   However, when I look at the various Python modules/libraries, I see
>that there are several versions of them, for different versions of
>python. I've seen everything from "for python 1.5" up to "for python
>2.4" with all versions in between. This scares me a little bit. I assume
>that the reason for the different versions is because of new language
>features?
>
>   Is Python showing any signs of "stabilizing"? (Yes, I know there are
>pros to an evolving language). Will there ever be a time when a new
>major version of python won't mean getting new versions of the modules?
>
>
>   For my economy program, I used DB2 as a database backend. I can be
>reasonable sure that there will always be a DB2 API for Java. However, I
>have found a DB2 module for Python, but I don't even know if it works
>with Python 2.4, and if I compile and use it, I can't be sure it'll work
>with the next python release, as far as I can tell.
>
>
>I'd like to ask seasoned Python developers:
>- Are you comfortable in upgrading to the latest version of Python, or
>are you worried about what you have to fix in your existing programs?
>- Put aside any unconditional love for Python for a second, and be
>honest: Have you ever run into version related problems?
>- Have you ever relied on a module, upgraded python version for some new
>important feature, but realized that the module you rely on hasn't been
>updated yet? If not, do you consider a possibility?
>- Do the module developers, in general, keep up with the development
>versions of python, so you can expect to find newly updated modules as
>new versions of python hits the streets?
>- Did you have similar worries to mine when you started working with Python?
>
>   Please be honest.. It's better that I find out any potential problems
>now, than rant about them in six months.
			.
			.
			.
Very high-level response:  it's not as bad as it seems.
Python is in fact quite conservative, and, as a commer-
cial developer, I can tell you the compatibility between
versions is satisfying.

There *are* issues with extensions, many of which are 
tied to specific releases of Python.  A couple of us
will probably follow-up with details.

My summary, though, is:  yes, while there are issues
with version compatibility, they're roughly comparable
to those experienced in the Java world.