I am worried about Python 3

[Roy Smith]

In article <663r0mF2iji99U1 at mid.uni-berlin.de>,
 Marc 'BlackJack' Rintsch <bj_666 at gmx.net> wrote:

> There will be a `2to3.py` program coming with Python 2.6 that tries to
> convert most changes automatically.  You may have to change the 2.6 code
> in a way that makes the automatic conversion possible but it is a
> important goal for the Python developers to make the transition as smooth
> as possible as far as I can tell.

People who have been using good software engineering practices like writing 
lots of automated tests, will have some confidence that the conversion went 
well.  People who haven't written any tests will probably be afraid of any 
big changes to the environment (and rightfully so).


But, to answer the OP's question, to wit, "If I continue in Python 2.5.x, 
am I making a mistake?", I would say not.

For somebody learning a new language, what you seek is stability.  You want 
everything to be well documented, and to work as documented.  You want a 
large community of people who already know what you are learning, and are 
able to help.  Likewise, you want a good selection of books to provide 
tutorial and reference help.  And a good set of well-tested tools and 
add-on modules.  You'll get all those from Python 2.5.

If you go with 3.0, you'll be on the bleeding edge.  My advice is to stay 
with what's stable today and come back and look at 3.0 in a year or so when 
you know what you're doing better, and the ecosystem has caught up with 
code.  And, write those automated tests, so when the time does come to 
switch, you can do so with confidence :-)