[Python-Dev] docs.python.org pointing to Python 3 by default?

[martin at v.loewis.de]

> I know plenty of people are keen to push the migration to Python 3
> forward as quickly as possible, but this is *definitely* a case of
> "make haste slowly". We need to tread carefully or we're going to give
> existing users an even stronger feeling that we simply don't care
> about the impact the Python 3 migration is having (or is going to
> have) on them.

I don't think users will have *that* feeling. I got comments that users
were puzzled that we kept continuing development on 2.x when 3.x was
released, so users do recognize that the migration to 3.x is not abrupt.

> *We* know that we care, but there's still plenty of
> folks out there that don't realise how deeply rooted the problems are
> in Python 2's text model and why the Python 3 backwards compatibility
> break was needed to fix them.

I don't think users care much about philosophical or abstract engineering
differences between the versions when thinking about porting. I'd expect
that most of them agree, in the abstract, that they will have to port to
Python 3 eventually. Some, of course, wish to stay with Python 2 forever,
and wish that this Python 3 madness is simply abandoned.

That they don't port is often caused by missing dependencies. If all
dependencies are met, it's caused by simple lack of time and energy.

> Back when Python 3 was first released, we set a target for the
> migration period of around 5 years.

Maybe you set this target for yourself. I set "Python 3.2/3.3" as a
target. I think Guido set an even earlier target initially.

Regards,
Martin