[Tutor] 15 puzzle

[Michael P. Reilly]

Remco Gerlich wrote
> 
> On  0, Rick Pasotto <rick@niof.net> wrote:
> > random.shuffle() is new. It was not in 1.5.2.
> > 
> > When it is suggested that a new feature be used, it might be a good idea
> > to mention the fact that it's a new feature. Or is 1.5.2 considered to
> > be so old now that no one should be using it?
> 
> Well, I didn't know it was new, I also found out about it only recently.

Some of the things in 2.x are fairly subtle.  For example, the __rcmp__
special method is no longer supported in 2.1; which means that "self"
might not be what you think it is in __cmp__(self, other).  This is
likely going to break some code, but...

> How old is 2.0 now? 8 months? We can't keep giving 1.5.2 solutions forever
> when the 2.x series has so much cool and useful stuff...

Considering the following:
* that companies ARE using Python (and we want them to) and many are
  using it within products (mine is for example);
* that entities are not going to changed releases of "vendor" software
  simply because a new release comes about, that the companies with
  products out there with older releases can only be replaced when the
  customer wishes;
* that a lot of the user systems (the new RedHat 7.1 still ships with
  Python 1.5.2), web hosting sites and other services that non-commercial
  users here on the tutor list are likely to be using are going to have
  installed 1.x releases;
* that some are still using 1.4 (especially for a pure DOS version
  that was out there).  And one person here in this list in the last
  couple of month was saying they were using 1.3 (which is from '95-'96
  time-frame).

This will be the case for likely the next 6-18 months (which is typical
for such open, grass-roots software development).

> We should have some sort of consensus on it on the Tutor list though.
> For now I usually mention the old way to do it, but in a few months I'll
> probably stop that, unless people explicitly mention it...

Speaking for myself, I think the mentors should be giving out the
information that is the best common denominator, with alternatives for
the others (things only in 2.x or only 1.x, things broken in one (like
os.path.walk broken in 2.0, fixed in 2.1).

  -Arcege

-- 
+----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Michael P. Reilly                | arcege@speakeasy.net              |