[Python-ideas] add a single __future__ for py3?

[Guido van Rossum]

It's just about these four imports, right?

from __future__ import absolute_import
from __future__ import division
from __future__ import print_function
from __future__ import unicode_literals

I think the case is overblown.

- absolute_import is rarely an issue; the only thing it does (despite the
name) is give an error message when you attempt a relative import without
using a "." in the import. A linter can find this easily for you, and a
little discipline plus the right example can do a lot of good here.

- division is important.

- print_function is important.

- unicode_literals is useless IMO. It breaks some things (yes there are
still APIs that don't take unicode in 2.7) and it doesn't nearly as much as
what would be useful -- e.g. repr() and <stream>.readline() still return
8-bit strings. I recommend just using u-literals and abandoning Python 3.2.

--
--Guido van Rossum (python.org/~guido)
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