[SciPy-dev] New Operators in Python

[Perry Greenfield]

On Mar 23, 2007, at 8:56 PM, Robert Kern wrote:

> Travis Oliphant wrote:
>
>> I wonder if we should propose such a thing for Python 3000.
>
> I think it's counter-productive to propose it for 3.0. The goal of  
> that
> particular point release is to remove stuff and clean it up such  
> that new stuff
> like this can be added in 3.1+. I wouldn't try to resurrect the  
> currently
> outstanding PEPs until 3.0 is out the door and people start  
> tackling 3.1.
>
>   http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0211/
>   http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0225/
>
Maybe you are both right. I don't think it would hurt to let the  
Python 3000 crowd know about our need, while also letting them know  
that it doesn't have to be in the first release.  By bringing it up  
now we avoid the response of "why didn't you raise it before we came  
out with 3.0?" It should be left to them to decide when the  
appropriate time for consideration and implementation. Who knows,  
they may prefer to deal with it earlier rather than later. I think  
this is probably the appropriate time to at least give them a heads  
up that it is important to us.

No other solution is as good as this one, not even close. They may  
consider it of limited use, but it's not the first time they have  
accommodated numeric needs that are fairly narrow (e.g., complex,  
rich comparisons). No one else has to use it if they don't want to,  
and it doesn't conflict with any other current usage (or even  
proposed as far as I know).

So I'm all for asking now.

Perry