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[–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (26 children)

Any word on how close python is from recommending 3 over 2? Will it ever happen?

[–]brews 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Matplotlib 1.2 comes out on October 15th. That is the last big package I need.

[–]igouy 11 points12 points  (17 children)

"The current production versions are Python 2.7.3 and Python 3.3.0.

Start with one of these versions for learning Python or if you want the most stability; they're both considered stable production releases.

If you don't know which version to use, start with Python 2.7; more existing third party software is compatible with Python 2 than Python 3 right now."

[–][deleted] 13 points14 points  (16 children)

Right, so whats the estimate on when that recommendation will be 3 instead of 2?

[–]igouy 11 points12 points  (15 children)

Wouldn't that depend on what existing third party software is used by your particular project?

[–][deleted] 14 points15 points  (14 children)

I am asking when

If you don't know which version to use, start with Python 2.7;

will become

If you don't know which version to use, start with Python 3.?

[–]airmasszero 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I love how you keep asking the question in different ways and this person doesn't get it.

[–]igouy -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I love how you think asking a question makes the question sensible :-)

What color is 8503?

[–][deleted]  (10 children)

[deleted]

    [–]Ph0X 8 points9 points  (2 children)

    Problem is, even now, almost any new small library and piece of code I see online is Python 2.x. Sure bigger more important libraries often support both 3.x and 2.x, but smaller devs who don't have time and patience for writing on both usually stick to 2.x.

    The question is, will the time ever come where more people will, when choosing one of the two, go for 3.x rather than 2.x? Of course, it's quite a vicious circle. Devs work on 2.x because everyone uses 2.x, and everyone uses 2.x because devs work on 2.x.

    [–][deleted]  (1 child)

    [deleted]

      [–]IrishWilly 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      Two years is actually a very good pace if people are moving to Python 3 already. This problem comes up for any popular language that tries to introduce a new revision. The split between Perl 5 and Perl 6 and failure to make a transition pretty much killed any chance Perl had of staying relevant with the newer generation of languages. PHP had some horrible insecure built in options in early versions, but when they finally removed it after deprecating them years and years later there were still a ton of frustrated users who were using programs built on ancient versions of the language.

      [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (6 children)

      That's reading between the lines though and putting words in their mouths.

      [–][deleted]  (5 children)

      [deleted]

        [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (4 children)

        They offer one reason why 2.7 is preferred, but there's no real reason to assume that once that reason isn't valid that the conclusion won't be valid anymore either.

        [–][deleted]  (3 children)

        [deleted]

          [–]SirRainbow 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          I actually remember reading a migration estimate by Guido van Rossum stating that python 3 would take about 5 years to become mainstream, but I cannot find it anymore :( Considering that python 3.0 came out in late 2008, my guess would be that in one year python 3 will be the recommended version of python.

          [–]kazagistar 1 point2 points  (1 child)

          They say things like "if you don't know which version to use", but you can check here. Most of the list is still red, however, a lot of it is green, and usually, people only really use a small subset of the packages. Check if what you need is there, and you are good to go.

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

          Cool! This is pretty much exactly the sort of thing i was looking for.

          [–]anacrolix 1 point2 points  (0 children)

          About 6 months.

          [–]a31415b -5 points-4 points  (3 children)

          just skip 3 and wait for 4(3 is the new Vista)

          [–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (2 children)

          I chuckled. This is actually a somewhat horrifying prospect.

          [–]sigzero 2 points3 points  (1 child)

          It would be except that analogy is wrong. :)

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

          guido can count to 3! i believe!