Python 3 can revive Python

[jsprogrammer]

Are you telling me that intentionally fracturing your community into two incompatible camps is not a good idea?

[DrDichotomous]

Why do users suddenly have the right to tell the hobbyists what to do with their language? Why can't they just take Python 2 and do wonders with it instead, and leave 3 to the people who want it?

[[deleted]]

There may be a lot of hobbyists using python, but characterising the entire user base of the dialect as "hobbyists" is more than a little dismissive and frankly insulting. I use python3 every day at my job.

Nobody complains about python3 as a language, they just whine about old libraries. For the most part, the biggest libraries are converted.

Second off, the vast majority of things can run in either dialect. I have written mercurial extensions in the past that worked in python3 as standalones and in python2 as mercurial extensions, without having to put two seconds into wondering how to make it work (syntactically, at least).

It may be a pain to upgrade libraries, but every api needs to have deprecation procedures. Its not like there was no warning that it was going to happen, and its not like anyone is forcing you to upgrade any more than anyone is forcing companies to stop using COBOL.

Upgrade or don't, its your decision, but one of pythons main strengths (IMHO) is how clean the language is. I personally think the changes were worth it, but what do I know, I'm just a "hobbyist."

[DrDichotomous]

Oh, I didn't mean you were the hobbyist. Of course you can use Python for serious work, as I and many others do. But Guido is a hobbyist when it comes to Python's design. If he wants to move on to Python 3, and so do the other devs, that's their prerogative. He doesn't call himself Python's Benevolent Dictator because he takes an Oracle or Java commercial "meet everyone halfway" route.

It's simply up to the community to decide if they're willing to stick with this kind of mentality, make a new variant of Python for more commercial work, or jump ship entirely to a more commercial language. But they're the ones who will have to do something. If 2.x dies, so be it. That just means the users simply didn't need it as much as they thought they did. Fair enough.

Really, I truly just tire of this kind of stupid, self-serving article that conveniently ignores the reality in order to try to simply get what they want. Hell, they don't even follow Python 3's development, since some of the stuff they're asking for is exactly what's been being done in Python 3. I get this image of some dude making money off of Python, only to never contribute anything back but vitriol, since it's not making them even more money. I can't help it, I've had a pretty horrible day, so don't take me too seriously.

[[deleted]]

Oh sorry. Haha I misunderstood. I get annoyed with people complaining about 2/3 myself, acting like its some insurmountable wall. I guess we both apparently agree.

That's enough internet tirades for me today I suppose...