[Python-3000] Generic function PEP won't make it in time

[Guido van Rossum]

On 4/26/07, Talin <talin at acm.org> wrote:
> I kind of wish that it was called "incomplete" rather than abstract, for
> reasons that we've already discussed.

Can't remember the details though I vaguely recall some grumblings about that.

But why invent new terminology when we can leverage existing
terminology, even if the semantics aren't quite the same? Python has a
long history of doing that -- e.g. list, int, assignment, class,
method, multiple inheritance, all come from other languages but Python
gives them a new twist -- sometimes intentional (assignment, list,
int), sometimes because the simplistic, dynamic implementation just
can't provide what a typical compiler can do. I find that the current
meanings of "abstract method" and "abstract class" are still close
enough to C++ or Java that reusing the name is helpful rather than
harmful.

-- 
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)