On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 12:42 PM, Guido van Rossum wrote:
I propose a moratorium on language changes. This would be a period of several years during which no changes to Python's grammar or language semantics will be accepted.
I agree with a moratorium. I cannot imagine it doing any harm. I'd even go so far as to say new language syntax and semantics should only come in only at top level version numbers like 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, etc. ...not at 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, etc. And at this later date, I submit language changes should not come in unless there is a compelling reason. That said, two areas where language support would be welcome: - the optional declaration of data types - parallel processing FWIW, I do a lot of crypto and for now have chosen to remain at 2.5.x. For me, byte strings are all important, and a few quick forays into Python 3 and its default Unicode suggested I should proceed very carefully. My experiments with Python 2.6 left me uncomfortable as well. There I ran into a couple of standard libraries that had the same API but their implementation/behavior was different. (No, that was many months ago and I do not remember which. Sorry.) In time I will move to Py3.