Writing backwards compatible code - when?

[John Machin]

On 19/04/2006 5:40 AM, Bob Greschke wrote:
> Is there a list of all of the Python commands and modules that tell when 
> (what version) they were added to Python?  I was hoping the new Essential 
> Reference would have it, but it doesn't.
> 

Possibly because it was deemed to be not essential :-)

For (a) writing from scratch a module that's targeted at a particular 
version of Python or (b) back-porting an existing module to a particular 
version, you need the docs for that version. As a reminder of features 
not to use in case (a) or that need changes in case (b), it's very handy 
to have a list of syntax and module changes made after that version ... 
for this I can't imagine anything better than amk's excellent "What's 
New in Python x.y" series.