[Python-Dev] Re: Stability and change

[Guido van Rossum]

> Exactly.  The changes _are_ documented in detail, indeed, but in
> special documents which only serious users read when they about to
> migrate from one version to another.  I'm thinking about users who
> use the language occasionally or even regularly, but not fanatic
> about following everything about versions -- they mainly rely on the
> Python Library Reference, or even the Python Language Reference.

Hm.  People who don't read the detailed documents shouldn't expect to
rely on details.

> These references describe some Python, but not necessarily the
> Python which happens to run on a given machine, and I guess (without
> having really experienced this myself) it might be frustrating to
> read and study, for discovering soon after that the feature is
> unavailable in this version.  Or even, for someone, to have handy
> information about how to write for the common denominator, without
> having to compare many printings of the references at various Python
> levels.  I guess that notes or footnotes, about Python levels in
> which described features have been implemented, might help users
> having to cope with release lags between Linux releases.  Such lags
> are unavoidable whenever Python evolves.

Have you read the library manual recently?  We are very careful in
adding notes about which version added a particular feature or even
detail.  So I think there is no reason to complain about this
preemptively unless your *own* experience indicates there's a lack of
documentation.

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