[Python-Dev] readd u'' literal support in 3.3?

[Terry Reedy]

On 12/8/2011 7:52 PM, Glyph wrote:
> Zooming back in to the actual issue this thread is about, I think the
> u""-vs-"" issue is a bit of a red herring, because the _real_ problem
> here is that 2to3 is slow and buggy and so migration efforts are
> starting to work around it, and therefore want to run the same code on
> 3.x and all the way back to 2.5.

I would expect that running one codebase would push one to only run on 
2.6+, which would make one codebase easier, but it does not seem to.

> In my opinion, effort should be spent on optimizing the suggested
> migration tools and getting them to work properly, not twiddling the
> syntax so that it's marginally easier to avoid them.

This is what I tried to say in my last post.

...
> I didn't say they didn't have a /need ever/, I said they didn't have a
> /budget now/. What you are saying to those users here is basically: "if
> you can't migrate today, then just don't bother, we're never going to
> make it any easier". Despite the fact that I ultimately agree on u''
> (nobody should care about this), it is not a good message to send.

I agree that would not be a good message, but a) I do not think that was 
the intent (I think is was more like "the *current* start of porting 
tools is a moot point for those not now porting") and b) good messages 
go both ways. People say "Python 2 is where the money is, it has 
(almost?) all the production apps, etcetera." Probably (mostly?) true. 
So where is the support from the vast army of 2.7 users for continuing 
to polish 2.7 past the normal 2 years (which ended last June)? Or for 
improving the migration tools?

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy