[Python-ideas] Consistency in naming [was Re: ...ALL CAPS] (off-list)

[Paul Moore]

On Mon, 4 Feb 2019 at 05:36, Christopher Barker <pythonchb at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> This is getting pretty off toipic, but I want to point out hat as a rule, Python has been critisised more for having too MUCH cnage than too little over the last few years:
[...]
> Finally, what the heck is wrong with datetime.now ?

Surely what's wrong is the fact that it adds another item to the list
of changes that people will complain is "too much"? The conservatism
in Python's development is not a result of the core devs being change
averse, or because of a policy of blocking change. Rather it's because
*the user community* reacts so strongly when we change things, so that
we feel that stability is what our users want, and try to achieve that
while still balancing the need for the language to grow and develop.

In a list like this, which represents only a tiny fraction of Python's
user community, it's easy to misjudge the appetite Python's users have
for change, because this is a self-selecting group of people who are
interested in change. That's why the pushback on *any* proposal made
here is to ask what benefits it gives, and why in the absence of good
arguments for a change, "the status quo wins".

Paul

PS Personally, I'd love to add a lot of the ideas discussed in this
list (although I'm "meh" about datetime.now, it's at best a minor
annoyance). But with my "python developer" hat on I have to look
beyond that and try to help proposers develop a good case for their
suggestions (if indeed they do have sufficient merit). Just saying
"yay, that sounds cool" doesn't do that, even if it's my personal
instinct.