A desperate lunge for on-topic-ness

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:24:34 -0600, Ian Kelly wrote:

> On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 4:34 PM, Steven D'Aprano
> <steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info> wrote:
>> On Tue, 23 Oct 2012 10:50:11 -0600, Ian Kelly wrote:
>>
>>>> if someone is foolish enough to use the
>>>>
>>>>         from xyz import *
>>>>
>>>> notation...
>>>
>>> It's already a SyntaxError to use a wildcard import anywhere other
>>> than the module level, so its use can only affect global variables.
>>
>> In Python 3.x.
>>
>> In Python 2.x, which includes the most recent version of three of the
>> four "big implementations" (PyPy, Jython, IronPython) it is still
>> legal, at least in theory.
> 
> If we're talking about making changes to the language, then we're
> clearly talking about Python 3.x and beyond.  There are no more major
> releases planned for 2.x.

In what way does "it is ALREADY a SyntaxError" [emphasis added] refer to 
making future changes to the language? :)

My point is that for probably 80% or more of Python users, it is not the 
case that wildcard imports in functions are already a syntax error. 
Anyone using CPython 2.x, PyPy, Jython or IronPython have such a syntax 
error to look forward to in the future, but not now. Until then, they 
have to deal with syntax warnings, implementation-dependent behaviour, 
and as far as I can see, an outright language bug in Jython, but no 
syntax errors.


-- 
Steven