[Python-Dev] PEP 414 - Unicode Literals for Python 3

[Antoine Pitrou]

On Tue, 28 Feb 2012 21:42:54 +1000
Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan at gmail.com> wrote:
> But the existing approaches require that, in order to be
> forward compatible with Python 3, a program must be made *worse* in
> Python 2 (i.e. harder to read and harder to write correctly for
> someone that hasn't learned Python 3 yet).

Wrong. The separate branches approach allows you to have a clean
Python 3 codebase without crippling the Python 2 codebase.
Of course that approach was downplayed from the start in favour of
using 2to3 on a single codebase, and now we discover that this approach
is cumbersome.

Note that 2to3 is actually helpful when you choose the dual branches
approach, and it isn't a serial dependency in that case.
(see https://bitbucket.org/pitrou/t3k/)

Regards

Antoine.