[Python-Dev] PEP-317

[Guido van Rossum]

> Guido van Rossum:
>   [...]
> > That's a good idea, and I'd support a PEP on that topic more than PEP
> > 317 (which IMO is unnecessary).

[Steven T]
> I agree it's unnecessary; even the bit about eliminating string
> exceptions is unnecessary.  But I thought the important question
> was whether the proposal represents a net improvement to the
> language and can be achieved with acceptable migration pain.

> Raymond's arguing the "excessive migration pain" angle quite well,
> and if the PEP is to be accepted, I'll certainly have to make a
> more convincing counter-argument on this point than I have so far.

I've never considered the two alternative raise syntaxes as a wart in
the language that's important enough to fix.  The predicted migration
pain seems excessive compared to the importance of the improvement.

The only case I'm willing to impose excessive migration pain to fix a
problem is when the problem is *really* unacceptable in the long run.
I've decided that's the case for int division, for the difference
between int and long, and for new-style vs. classic classes.

I don't see raise C vs. raise C() to be in the same category.

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