On 6/3/2021 3:34 PM, Guido van Rossum wrote:
On Thu, Jun 3, 2021 at 3:17 PM Tim Delaney <timothy.c.delaney@gmail.com <mailto:timothy.c.delaney@gmail.com>> wrote:
Perhaps "living API" analogous to "living document". Much more positive connotations ...
Perhaps, but that's pretty much coining a new term, which we would then have to explain. And since the opposite would be "dead API", what is a dead API exactly? And doesn't it follow that all APIs are living? If we stick with unstable, we're adopting a term that's in use by at least one other language community (Rust), and the slightly negative connotation is welcome -- people should think twice before using unstable APIs.
I read somewhere that the term "stable" means "dead" in some contexts... was it maybe a medical context? So "living" would be "unstable" too, as Tim suggested. And since people know what a living document is, a living API wouldn't be much of a stretch. On the other hand, "unstable" carries a bit more connotation of "needs caution".