On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 5:50 AM, Guido van Rossum <guido@python.org> wrote:
You keep stressing the opportunities for new features, but I want to crush that hope [ snip ] Go invent a new language (and hope for it to become popular :-) if you want to experiment.
Crushing hope and pointing people to the door is ugly [*]. Why freeze? Instead, define how change occurs and make it as slow as you like. Define the python kilo (1000x) development cycle. For example the "moratorium" could state: --- S&B = syntax and builtins Python only introduces syntax and builtins once every X years[**] and only in major version changes. Between pyNk releases S&B are locked. New S&B can and should be tested on the next major revision's experimental branch(es). New S&B will only be considered for inclusion during the 2 years prior a pyNk major version. If a core language feature is to be accepted it needs: 1. A community tested and reviewed patch 2. A migration strategy (ie 3to4 code). 3. Python-dev acceptance (which can only be applied for during the 2 year S&B period). --- I suggest a new mailing list titled "python-experimental" for discussion and development of experimental branches. Also, commit privileges should be really common and easy to get for this branch of branches. Mercurial could help in implementing this. I realize that anyone can take the python source and do whatever they want on any free source host but having an official lab[***] for this can give another step between code that's in the wild and code that's in an official (non-experimental) branch and thus save core developer's time. --yuv [*] Beautiful is better than ugly. [**] There were about 8 years between python 2 and python 3, extrapolating from the discussion that this was too fast, lets say X=10, sound reasonable? [***] I prefer to call it a "playground" but now that python's all serious business and not a language for fun I don't know how well that would go. ps (short for pike shedding) - the "moratorium" has an evil sound to it. All python needs is a Core-Feature-Development-Cycle-Roadmap or something catchier.