[Python-3000] Please don't kill the % operator...

[Bill Janssen]

> I think most of these points are irrelevant. The curly braces are not
> just syntactic sugar, at least the opening brace is not; the digit
> is not syntactic sugar in the case of message translations.

Are there "computation of matching braces" problems here?

> That lots of people are familiar with the old format and only few are
> with the new is merely a matter of time.

Sure, but the problem is that there are a lot of Python programmers
*now* and learning the new syntax imposes a burden on all of *them*.
Who cares how many people know the syntax in the future?

> That the new format is more verbose than the old one is true, but only
> slightly so - typing .format is actually easier for me than typing
> % (which requires a shift key).

I don't mind the switch to ".format"; it's the formatting codes that I
don't want to see changed.

> Porting programs that have computed format strings is indeed a
> challenge. The theory here is that this affects only few programs.

I think you'll find it's more than a few.  This issue is obviously an
iceberg issue; most folks never thought you were going to remove the
old formatting codes, just add a newer and more capable set.

Bill