Software bugs aren't inevitable

[Terry Reedy]

"Aahz" <aahz at pythoncraft.com> wrote in message 
news:dghk1b$mcc$1 at panix1.panix.com...
> Note that I said "one reason".  The primary reason is that tail-call
> optimization destroys the call stack, which means that exception
> semantics would have to change.  If tail-call optimization were more
> useful, he might be willing to consider the tradeoff, but since it
> isn't...

The prime reason I remember Guido giving, as I reported previously, is that 
tail-call optimization is semantically wrong otherwise, given the language 
as now defined, and would require a semantic change that he does not want 
to make.

Terry J. Reedy