I am worried about Python 3

[Diez B. Roggisch]

jmDesktop wrote:

> I am a new Python programmer.  I have always desired to learn Python,
> but have never had the opportunity.  Recently this has changed, and I
> have an opportunity to get away from the .NET framework.  I found
> Django (and other web frameworks) and began my quest to learn.  I
> started reading Dive Into Python and anything I could find and started
> participating here in usenet.  Then I had to read this:
> 
> http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/nde/papers/teachpy3.html
> 
> I think that every time I start a new technology (to me) it is about
> to change.  Yes, I know that is the nature of things, but I'm always
> at the start of "something new."
> 
> If I continue in Python 2.5.x, am I making a mistake?  Is it really
> that different?
> 
> Here is an excerpt that is causing me concern:
> 
> Two new versions of the language are currently in development: version
> 2.6, which retains backwards compatibility with previous releases; and
> version 3.0, which breaks backwards compatibility to the extent that
> even that simplest of programs, the classic 'Hello, World', will no
> longer work in its current form.
> 
> It makes me feel like I am wasting my time and makes it difficult to
> justify spending time on projects using 2.5.x and using it where I
> work.

The above statement is greatly exaggerated. Yes, print will become a
function so 

print "hello world"

won't work anymore. But most of python will stay the same, and you certainly
don't waste time. Learning 2.x is perfectly sensible, as it is the stable
version supported by e.g. providers and of course the community - and will
be so for years to come.

Diez