[Python-Dev] partition() (was: Remove str.find in 3.0?)

[Michael Chermside]

Michael Hoffman writes:
> Dare I ask whether the uncompiled versions [of re object methods] should
> be considered for removal in Python 3.0?
>
> *puts on his asbestos jacket*

No flames here, but I'd rather leave them. The docs make it clear that
the two sets of functions/methods are equivalent, so the conceptual
overhead is small (at least it doesn't scale with the number of methods
in re). The docs make it clear that the compiled versions are faster, so
serious users should prefer them. But the uncompiled versions are
preferable in one special situation: short simple scripts -- the kind
of thing often done with shell scriping except that Python is Better (TM).
For these uses, performance is irrelevent and it turns a 2-line
construct into a single line.

Of course the uncompiled versions can be written as little 2-line
functions but that's even WORSE for short simple scripts.

Nearly everything I write these days is larger and more complex, but
I retain a soft spot for short simple scripts and want Python to
continue to be the best tool available for these tasks.

-- Michael Chermside