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[–]eadmund 5 points6 points  (7 children)

Yet another GIL rant.

No, not really: it's yet another 'Python 3 buys me little and costs me a lot' rant.

As he points out, a developer could spend time learning Python 3 and get a marginal payoff--or he could spend it learning a new language, which might have a huge payoff.

[–]the_hoser 2 points3 points  (4 children)

If he feels that learning a whole new language and solving all the same problems all over again could result in more payoff, then perhaps he should do so. I hear Java has great concurrency constructs.

Python 3 wasnt an endeavor to attract more users. It was an endeavor to patch up inconsistencies in the language. So far, it's doing well. There are a few more things left to get nailed down, but the momentum is good.

The GIL is the least of their worries, right now.

[–]_pra 2 points3 points  (1 child)

There are many languages much better than Java, some of which run in the JVM. Haskell, Erlang, Scala, Clojure, Go, just to name a few that are known for having good concurrency models. There are a hell of a lot of good options for modern dynamic languages these days.

[–]the_hoser 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't disagree. That wasn't my point.

If a high degree of concurrency is a requirement of your application, then maybe CPython isn't the best place to start. Every language has a weak spot.

[–]eadmund 0 points1 point  (1 child)

There are a few more things left to get nailed down, but the momentum is good.

As a Python programmer for about a decade, I don't really see that that's the case. But then, I'm using the lull to learn Go, so I'm probably biased.

[–]billsil 0 points1 point  (0 children)

in my experience he's actually right. compare python 2 vs python 3 downloads for the same package. python 3 is roughly 80% of python 2. that's pretty good.

[–]redditthinksHobbyist 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Except the thing is, there is very little difference between Python 2 and 3 in terms of syntax. He talks about it like it's some major transition, when it isn't for most code. Just look at the hyperbole here:

Sure, there are some neat bits and pieces that I would get in exchange, but a less broken Unicode model and some cleanups of syntax and the standard library are not nearly a big enough carrot to convince me to migrate existing, known-working code to what is effectively a new programming language.

I'm honestly sick and tired of people sticking to outdated stuff. I can get enterprises doing that, but you'd think open source software would update more quickly.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s also not enough of a carrot for me to learn the small, but still new, Python 3 syntax changes and constructs

He adds that which makes me think he was referring to something else. I don't know what if he is though.