[STORY-TIME] THE BDFL AND HIS PYTHON PETTING ZOO

[John Ladasky]

On Monday, February 15, 2016 at 6:02:24 PM UTC-8, Rick Johnson wrote:
> On Friday, February 12, 2016 at 1:51:35 AM UTC-6, John Ladasky wrote:
> 
> Reguarding a migration from Python2 to Pyhton3, John said:
> >  I had to wait until my favorite packages were ported
> > (numpy, scipy, matplotlib, pandas).
> 
> WxPython is not ported either, much to my chagrin.

I was a big fan of WxPython myself.  I waited for Phoenix for a while, then decided to learn PyQt5.  Having been exposed to both GUI's ways of doing things, I'm not sure which I prefer.  I never liked Tkinter.

> > But once that happened, I moved from Py2 to Py3 years ago
> > with scarcely a bump, bruise, or scratch.
> 
> So you have no Python2.x code remaining in your repos? Are
> you telling us that you moved *EVERYTHING* to Python3? If
> so, i can't imagine how something like that would even be
> possible, hmm, unless of course, you don't have much code to
> move...?
>
> I could imagine that *IF* someone's entire Python repo
> consisted of a couple hundred (or less) small scripts, with
> few, or no, dependencies, such a migration would be
> relatively easy. But even though i've only been writing
> Python code for a handful of years, my repo consists of
> thousands of scripts, millions of lines of code, and many,
> *MANY* dependencies -- because after all, DRY is very
> important, yes?

It's true, I only have about 25,000 lines of code.  My largest program suite is only about 10% of that.  And indeed, it's now all in Py3. The 2to3 utility took care of most of my porting needs.  Yes, I aspire to the DRY principle.  I've written a few packages which extend Numpy's behavior in specific ways which I've re-used many times.

I acknowledge that there's a vocal group of Py2 users who have decided that it's too much trouble to switch.  The PSF has decided that its energies are better expended on growing Py3 than on maintaining Py2 for that diminishing user base.

But no one owns Python.  There is no law that states that Py2 adherents cannot maintain the language themselves, if they want it.  Sheesh.  Just do it.  Make it yours.  

Or make something better if you want.  You state:

> I don't need Python3. And i reckon that by the time i do, 
> something more interesting will come along, or, i'll create 
> something more interesting myself. i've been drafting, and 
> dreaming, of a new language spec for over a year now.. And 
> the best thing about starting a new language, you can do 
> anything you want... no dependencies! 

If you have all the skills that you claim, you're a far better programmer than I.  So -- exactly why are you complaining to people who are developing and/or using Py3?  Go off and impress everyone.  Become your own BDFL.

Cheers.