Python 3 put-downs: What's the point?

[CM]

On Jul 5, 2:33 pm, Terry Reedy <tjre... at udel.edu> wrote:
> On 7/4/2010 9:20 PM, CM wrote:
>
> > On Jul 4, 7:14 pm, Terry Reedy<tjre... at udel.edu>  wrote:
>
> > I think there's a good point to Python 3 put-downs (if I take put-down
> > to mean generally reasonable criticism, which is what I've read here
> > recently, and not trolling).  And that is simply to register
> > dissent.
>
> But dissent from what?
>
> Dissent from something obviously true?
> (like 'Pythonx.y is useful to some people')
>
> Dissent from something obvious false, that no one has said?
> (like 'Everyone should switch to Pythonx.y')

I was thinking more like dissent from something that is not obviously
true or false, but a matter of debate, like some of the decisions
behind Python 3 itself or how the transition is being managed.  I got
the sense that was about where the complaints lie.  Some of the
responses to those complaints were educational to me, so I didn't mind
reading the exchanges.

> > Any online group is an opportunity to register dissent in a way that
> > is public, open, immediate, interactive, and will (probably) be
> > preserved for historians to check.  The fact is, some people have
> > gripes with Python 3; they are letting it be known.
>
> I have several 'gripes' with 2.7 and it is currently useless to me.
> Should I let them be known? How many times?

Maybe you should; maybe it can be constructive criticism to developers
or can jog someone to tell you something that you didn't know.  How
many times?  Once, maybe twice.  I agree one can overdo it, and maybe
you've read more of the gripes than I have and it seems repetitive by
now.

> >  If no one did,
> > there could be no later time at which people could look back and know
> > what the reaction was to its introduction--it would just be a blank.
> > Aren't opinions that dissent from the prevailing ones important to
> > register, whether one thinks they are right or wrong?
>
> Do you agree with me that the same criteria for gripe legitimacy should
> be applied equally to all Python versions (even if we should disagree on
> what those criteria should be)?

I think so, sure.