Commonly-used names in the Python standard library

[Marko Rauhamaa]

Chris Angelico <rosuav at gmail.com>:

> On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 11:09 PM, Marko Rauhamaa <marko at pacujo.net> wrote:
>>    from __py35__ import syntax
>
> It's more self-documenting with the __future__ directive, because it
> says *what* syntax you're importing from the future.

As a developer, I will probably want to state the Python dialect that
was used to write the module. Each dialect comes with hundreds of
features. I don't want to list them individually (even if I could).

> And at some point, the new keywords must just become standard.

That's an explicit program of destroying backwards-compatibility: a war
on legacy code. That may be the Python way, but it's not a necessary
strategy.

> There's no point polluting every Python script forever with these
> directives, and no point maintaining two branches of code in the
> interpreter.

Two branches? I would imagine there would be dozens of "branches" in the
interpreter if the latest interpreter were to support all past Python
dialects (as it should, IMO).


Marko