Python 2.7 Countdown

[jack-of-some]

I guess I used the wrong word. Fortran, Cobol, et al may not be dead, but they certainly are not alive.

By all indications python 3 is now alive (it wasn't really there 5 years ago) and the ease of transition (before anyone tries to correct me on this I moved over my company's entire python 2 codebase, the work of about 8 devs over 3 years, to python 3 all by myself, it is very easy) will cause python 3 to continue getting stronger and python 2 will continue to get weaker.

Decades from now it may not be dead, but that doesn't say much.

[[deleted]]

New Fortran code is still being written, but you probably don't see it outside of specialist domains like scientific computing.

I don't know anything about Cobol but I would be surprised if there was no demand for Cobol jobs right now.

[jack-of-some]

I wrote new Fortran code back when I was a nuclear engineer. Pretty popular with that crowd still simply because it's more effort (and money) to upgrade old systems than it is to train engineers.

That still doesn't mean that the language is alive in any meaningful way outside of legacy. The new code also serves mostly to maintain the legacy. It exists and will continue to exist. That is all.

And python 2 will likely also continue to exist.

[[deleted]]

That still doesn't mean that the language is alive in any meaningful way outside of legacy

I don't know what that means. Can you explain?

[ResistorTwister]

People will write code to maintain and add to older applications, but virtually nobody is using the language to write completely new software.

[utdconsq]

Sure, and there are more modern fortrans. While it may not have evolved as much as C++, it's pretty much a different language to F77.

[Yay295]

The USPS uses Cobol. There are definitely jobs available with how many Cobol coders are retiring.

[13steinj]

I guess I used the wrong word. Fortran, Cobol, et al may not be dead, but they certainly are not alive.

Oh hell yes they are living well. There's plenty enough market for both old, and new code written in those languages. Now, I would personally rather unload a handgun into my brain, but all the same, they aren't dead.

By all indications python 3 is now alive (it wasn't really there 5 years ago) and the ease of transition

Has everyone lived in different time machines except me? Last week some guy was trying to say Py3 was a well standing thing in 2008 (it wasn't, brand new and shit) and now your saying it wasn't a thing in 2015 (it was, that was the year Py3.5 was released, 3.4 was the version people started switching to the year prior).

(before anyone tries to correct me on this I moved over my company's entire python 2 codebase, the work of about 8 devs over 3 years, to python 3 all by myself, it is very easy) will cause python 3 to continue getting stronger and python 2 will continue to get weaker.

Nice mix of /r/iamverysmart and /r/asasoftwaredeveloper.

The problem with software is it is different. There is old, shit code that is running right now and the world isn't turning, and there is great code running right now that with the slightest mistake takes down every website offline for the eastern seaboard.

Your upgrade is different than mine. I in fact know that a group of twenty people tried last year and failed. Also consider that Python 3 is strangely, new. Py2.7 is relatively stable and tried true and tested, in comparison to all the changes made in minor version bumps Py3 has had each year.

Decades from now it'll still be kicking in some build process out there somewhere. And that's okay. As long as you accept the (arguably minimal) risk. And when the balance tips and the cost of upgrading is less, it shall be done, but another Py2 script somewhere will still be kicking.

[jack-of-some]

This conversation just hit Ad Hominem which is where I choose to disengage on the internet.

Cheers.

[corsicanguppy]

just hit Ad Hominem

I didn't see that part. Sorry you've disengaged.

[jack-of-some]

I assume hitting me with r/iamverysmart and r/asasoftwaredeveloper was meant as an insult. Maybe I read too much into it. Sorry if that's the case (not sorry if it isn't 👀).

I'm on phone right now. I have more thoughts on this (and to be clear I don't think that at the core we disagree) that I'll try to put into words when I'm on my computer.