[Python-ideas] A tuple of various Python suggestions

[Keith Curtis]

Hi again,

I mean this merely as food for thought. Thank you for reading.

I personally find Python very stable, but the bug counts have been
heading in the wrong direction:
http://bugs.python.org/issue?@template=stats

I recently discovered those charts, and they have valuable data that
can be turned into action.

My distributor of Python is Arch. I presume it is very close to what
you guys release. That's just my example, but from what I've seen, few
pay for a Python runtime. Given your license, I wouldn't expect a lot
to. If someone waits for the wrong train, they won't get there.

I don't suggest guilt-tripping volunteers into fixing bugs. If you've
got to dig a ditch, you can try to enjoy the sun. Getting the bug
count under control is an admirable goal. The list is an opportunity
to focus on the known problems real people care about most, and to try
to deal with old issues before taking on new ones.

I don't recommend people fix bugs to help "corporations and large
organizations". You won't be very motivated by that anti-capitalist
mindset. People should fix bugs because it helps real Python users,
and gets rid of barriers. If people steadily remove roadblocks, things
will flourish.

I was teasing about you guys not being paid professionals, however, it
appears that very few of you have the goal of getting the official bug
count down. That is a big difference between amateurs and
professionals. If few people feel ownership of the official Python, it
can be bad. Maybe the PSF could hire more with that mindset. I don't
know the solutions, but I am grateful to be able to send you a few
words.

As for WebAssembly, I don't know if Numpy can "simply" be re-compiled
for it. It seems like the sort of workitem that could take 2-3 years,
and never be actually fully compatible or as fast.

Python can run in sandboxes as well:
https://wiki.python.org/moin/SandboxedPython. People who care about
code being intercepted and manipulated should use SSL or sign it.
People who write their own code to run on their own machine would
likely prefer to be able to just directly reference the Python runtime
they've already setup.

I wonder whether the sandbox can be used outside of Web Assembly so
that code distribution and security are not so intermingled. I did see
someone write that WebAssembly is the "dawn of a new era", but I
wonder whether it is mostly a bunch of Javascript people trying to
solve their own problems rather than those who care about making
Python work well on it.

Regards,

-Keith