[Python-ideas] Proposal: Moratorium on Python language changes

[Guido van Rossum]

On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 11:52 AM, geremy condra <debatem1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Towards that end, I'd also like to propose a very public, very
> accessible 'sandbox' specifically for the development and testing of
> new language features while the moratorium is in effect. Its goal
> would be to keep interest in changes to core language design
> ongoing by keeping the barrier to entry low, while simultaneously
> separating it from core development. With any luck, it would mean
> that when the moratorium lifts, Python will be able to take its pick
> from the best of the language proposals, while still having given
> other implementations the opportunity to study their behavior
> "in the wild" for a period of months or years.

I can't stop people from forking the language to do experiments, but
one of the goals I have for the moratorium is actually to *reduce* the
interest in core language changes, and to *raise* the barrier to
entry. Most language change proposals are just fluff, and they will be
just as unneeded three years from now as they are today. Once the
moratorium is lifted, users should be able expect the normal, slow,
conservative evolution of the language to continue -- not to see the
floodgates lifted for a barrage of new features.

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