[Python-ideas] A python bridge between versions

[ian o]

> And we don't actually mind all that much if applications don't migrate 
> in the near term - Python 2 will have commercial support available 
> well past 2020. (The developers of *those applications* might mind, 
> though, 
>
..... 

> The group we *do* really care about supporting is authors of existing 
> Python *libraries*, and "2in3" and "3in2" approaches don't really help 
> them at all, since library and framework authors with users on both 
> Python 2 and Python 3 will likely face demand to support both versions 
> natively anyway.


Cheers, 
> Nick. 
>
> Nic,
>
Lets assume  for the moment that the 'we don't really care about the 60% of 
python developers blocked from moving to python 3 by depencies' was not 
really what you meant.

I am going to assume that what you really meant was 'I do not think helping 
these people directly is the best solution'.
And this attitude is based around the fear that if the developers can move 
to python 3 before the libraries all support python 3, then that will 
remove pressure from the libraries to support python 3.

This fear i can understand.  But I suggest some real world experience shows 
this approach is actually not assisting either group.  It is certainly not 
assisting the developers wishing to move to python 3, but it is also making 
life hard for the "people we do really care about"

So not supporting a "2in3" solution forces programmers to with python2 
dependencies to hold off moving to python3 until their dependencies 
migrate, but hopefully with sound motives.

Now take a typical dependency.  Web2py.  Speak to them on migration and 
they will telly you 'none of our users have moved to python 3'.  So the 
users are held back from moving by the dependencies, and the dependencies 
are held back by the users.

I would suggest that making it easier to support both python2 and ptyhon3 
from a library is simply reducing what it a painful thing.  I would suggest 
that allowing all the end users to migrate to python3 as soon as possible 
is a far more attractive solution.

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