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

[Guido van Rossum]

On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 11:29 AM, Patrick Laban <laban.patrick at gmail.com> wrote:
> Please forgive me if anything I say has already been mentioned.  I am
> certainly in support of a moratorium on Python core and switch the focus to
> Python libraries.  I'm sure others have noticed that as of late many
> proposals have been of lower quality or are the same old ideas that keep
> getting requested.
>
> My only concern would be that the technology field is always changing and
> some great new technologies may come up during the moratorium.  To alleviate
> this concern I propose that the primary Python core developers either meet
> once a year, or at the halfway point of the moratorium.  They would then
> discuss whether or not any changes within the field are major enough to
> warrant a change within Python core.
>
> With these meetings we would be able to ensure that the Python core is only
> worked on if absolutely necessary, leaving us free to concentrate on library
> development.

That's the moratorium-with-exceptions again, which cannot work because
everyone has their favorite "can't wait" exception.

New technology should be dealt with in a library first anyway.

Anyway, the "Python core" includes a lot of stuff that isn't covered
by the moratorium (which only prohibits changes to syntax and
associated semantics, not implementation issues).

I expect that any issues with the moratorium will be discussed on
python-dev first; but the yearly language summit will be a good point
to review it too.

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