GvR Europython keynote described on lwn.net

[Rick Johnson]

On Sunday, August 2, 2015 at 3:05:09 AM UTC-5, Steven D'Aprano wrote:

> If Dropbox were using Python 1.5, would you conclude that
> Python 2 was not worth developing in? 

No, if Dropbox were using py1.5, i would conclude that it was
being managed by monkeys -- since Py1.5 existed before
Dropbox was even founded (in 2007).

> I happen to know that at last year's US PyCon there was at
> least one company still using Python 1.5. If it works for
> them, and they don't need security updates, why not? But
> this doesn't mean others should emulate them.

Same answer, if they were using py1.5 "when it was hot", and
it still works for them today, why bother with backwards
incompatibility. They can hack 1.5 if they need to, it's
open source after all!

> As Laura has explained, there is at least one sector of
> Python users that not only doesn't want new features, but
> they don't want bug fixes either. They would rather work
> around bugs themselves, and stability is more important
> than correctness. If that works for them, great. But it
> doesn't work for everyone.

Does the word "reiterate" mean anything to you?

> Just because company X is using 2.7, why does that mean
> that *you* shouldn't using 3.x? Surely you should make
> your own decision, based on your own needs.

It's not just *ANY* company Steven, it's Guido's freaking
employer! That would imply that even GvR himself is not
motivated enough by 3000 to fight for it's adoption. More 
evidence that py3000 is not ready for mass consumption.

> (For the record, Dropbox isn't using Python 2.7. They're
> using a heavily customized private implementation of
> Python based on, but not the same as, version 2.7.
> Whatever benefits they get from using that, I can promise
> that *you* will not be getting them from the vanilla
> version of 2.7 available to the public.)

So what? If i had to guess, i would guess that the hacks are
mostly to bring py3000 features to 2.7 without suffering the
ill effects that the py3000 recipe of: "excessive backwards
incompatibility spicing" has had on the consumption of py3000.

We don't like your spicy sauce, Swedish Chef!

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGZPlvbhMIg

And if you folks think it burns at runtime, just wait until the 
exceptions are ejected!