[Numpy-discussion] Proposal of timeline for dropping Python 2.7 support

[Chris Barker]

On Mon, Nov 6, 2017 at 6:14 PM, Charles R Harris <charlesr.harris at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Also -- if py2.7 continues to see the use I expect it will well past when
>>> pyton.org officially drops it, I wouldn't be surprised if a Python2.7
>>> Windows build based on a newer compiler would come along -- perhaps by
>>> Anaconda or conda-forge, or ???
>>>
>>
>> I suspect that this will indeed happen. I am aware of multiple companies
>> following this path already (building python + numpy themselves with a
>> newer MS compiler).
>>
>
> I think Anaconda is talking about distributing a compiler, but what that
> will be on windows is anyone's guess. When we drop 2.7, there is a lot of
> compatibility crud that it would be nice to get rid of, and if we do that
> then NumPy will no longer compile against 2.7. I suspect some companies
> have just been putting off the task of upgrading to Python 3, which should
> be pretty straight forward these days apart from system code that needs to
> do a lot of work with bytes.
>

I agree, and if there is a compelling reason to upgrade, folks WILL do it.
But I've been amazed over the years at folks' desire to stick with what
they have! And I'm guilty too, anything new I start with py3, but older
larger codebases are still py2, I just can't find the energy to spend a the
week or so it would probably take to update everything...

But in the original post, the Windows Compiler issue was mentioned, so
there seems to be two reasons to drop py2:

A) wanting to use py3 only features.
B) wanting to use never C (C++?) compiler features.

I suggest we be clear about which of these is driving the decisions, and
explicit about the goals. That is, if (A) is critical, we don't even have
to talk about (B)

But we could choose to do (B) without doing (A) -- I suspect there will be
a user base for that....

-CHB




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