What meaning of this ""hello %s you are %s years old" % x"

[Albert-Jan Roskam]

<snip>
 
> That's not tuple%tuple, but rather string%tuple.  And string%tuple is 
> the older method of formatting an output string from a template and a 
> tuple of values.  See 
> https://docs.python.org/2/library/stdtypes.html#string-formatting for 
> details.
> 
> However, if you are just learning Python, you should probably use the 
> *newer* formatting operations.  See 
> https://docs.python.org/3.3/library/string.html#formatspec for details 
> of that.

Do you know what was the reason/consideration to switch to a new formatting operation? Ability to have custom formatters with an own __format__ method?

Regards,
Albert-Jan