Blog "about python 3"

[Roy Smith]

In article <mailman.4753.1388499265.18130.python-list at python.org>,
 Antoine Pitrou <solipsis at pitrou.net> wrote:

> Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python <at> pearwood.info> writes:
> > 
> > I expect that as excuses for not migrating get fewer, and the deadline for
> > Python 2.7 end-of-life starts to loom closer, more and more haters^W
> > Concerned People will whine about the lack of version 2.8 and ask for
> > *somebody else* to fork Python.
> > 
> > I find it, hmmm, interesting, that so many of these Concerned People who say
> > that they're worried about splitting the Python community[1] end up
> > suggesting that we *split the community* into those who have moved forward
> > to Python 3 and those who won't.
> 
> Indeed. This would be extremely destructive (not to mention alienating the
> people doing *actual* maintenance and enhancements on Python-and-its-stdlib,
> of which at least 95% are committed to the original plan for 3.x to slowly
> supercede 2.x).
> 
> Regards
> 
> Antoine.

I'm using 2.7 in production.  I realize that at some point we'll need to 
upgrade to 3.x.  We'll keep putting that off as long as the "effort + 
dependencies + risk" metric exceeds the "perceived added value" metric.

I can't imagine the migration will happen in 2014.  Maybe not even in 
2015.  Beyond that, my crystal ball only shows darkness.  But, in any 
case, going with a fork of 2.x has zero appeal.  Given the choice 
between effort + risk to move forward vs. effort + risk to move 
sideways, I'll move forward every time.

To be honest, the "perceived added value" in 3.x is pretty low for us.  
What we're running now works.  Switching to 3.x isn't going to increase 
our monthly average users, or our retention rate, or decrease our COGS, 
or increase our revenue.  There's no killer features we need.  In 
summary, the decision to migrate will be driven more by risk aversion, 
when the risk of staying on an obsolete, unsupported platform, exceeds 
the risk of moving to a new one.  Or, there will be some third-party 
module that we must have which is no longer supported on 2.x.

If I were starting a new project today, I would probably start it in 3.x.