String Exceptions (PEP 352)

[Ben Finney]

Thomas Guettler <niemand.leermann at thomas-guettler.de> writes:

> I like python because it is compatible to old versions.

I like it because it has a documented, manageable procedure for
breaking compatibility with old versions.

> if foo and bar and i>10:
>     raise "if foo and bar i must not be greater than 10"

Others have pointed out that this is a job for 'assert'.

> Is it too late to change this?

Yes. PEP-0352 has a status of "Final".

> Way not make this line
> 
>     raise "..."
> 
> behave like this:
> 
>     raise Exception("...")   
> 
> in the future?

Because explicit is better than implicit, and special magic behaviour
is to be deprecated (or never implemented) when possible.

> Please keep Python compatible to old versions.

Have a read of PEP 0005:

    <URL:http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0005>

Also note that the transition plan (documented in the PEP that
concerns you) shows the support for the old behaviour is not to be
dropped until Python 3.0, a release explicitly targeted at breaking
backward compatibility to clean out crufty behaviour.

-- 
 \        "I went to the hardware store and bought some used paint. It |
  `\                   was in the shape of a house."  -- Steven Wright |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney