[Python-Dev] transitioning from % to {} formatting

[Raymond Hettinger]

>>> The positional parameter would also mean dicttemplate, and
>>> would be deprecated (eventually requiring a keyword-only
>>> parameter).
>>
>> Although I hate the name 'dicttemplate', this seems like the best solution
>> to me. Maybe it's good that 'dicttemplate' is so ugly though so that people
>> will naturally prefer 'format' :). But I like this because there's not
>> really any magic, it's explicit, and the decision is made by the coder at
>> the call site. The implementation does not need to guess at all.
> 
> Could you comment on what you think we should do when the parameter is
> not positional? As I mentioned upthread, in the case of
> logging.Formatter, it's already documented as taking the keyword
> parameter "fmt", so we'd have to use the name "fmt" for % formatting.

Unless there is a firm decision to switch to kill %-formatting across the board,
I don't think anything should be done at all.   

Creating Py3.x was all about removing cruft and clutter.  I don't think it 
would be improved by adding two ways to do it for everything in the 
standard library.  That is a lot of additional code, API expansion, and 
new testing, fatter docs, and extra maintenance, but giving us no new 
functionality.

Anytime we start hearing about newstyle/oldstyle combinations, I think
a flag should go up.  Anytime there is a proposal to make sweeping
additions that do not  add new capabilities, a flag should go up.

I understand the desire to have all formatting support both ways,
but I don't think it is worth the costs.  People *never* need both ways
though they may have differing preferences about which *one* to use.

my-two-cents,


Raymond