[Python-3000] Please don't kill the % operator...

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    Alex> The PEP abstract says this proposal will replace the '%' operator,

I hope this really doesn't happen.  printf-style formatting has a long
history both in C and Python and is well-understood.  Its few limitations
are mostly due to the binary nature of the % operator, not to the power or
flexibility of the format strings themselves.  In contrast, the new format
"language" seems to have no history (is it based on features in other
languages?  does anyone know if it will actually be usable in common
practice?) and at least to the casual observer of recent threads on this
topic seems extremely baroque.

Python has a tradition of incorporating the best ideas from other languages.
String formatting is so common that it doesn't seem to me we should need to
invent a new, unproven mechanism to do this.

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