Language forks (was: Python tutorial/comparison for C++ programmer)

[Cameron Laird]

In article <slrn8dklps.ihg.grant at grante.comtrol.com>,
Grant Edwards <grant at nowhere.> wrote:
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>If the language implemented by "MS Visual-Python" isn't 100%
>compatible with the official, free version of Python, then life
>gets less pleasant.  If you want to write "portable" python,
>you had to have some sort pre-processor to sort out the
>differences between MSVP and real Python.  We could end up with
>library modules that are available for one language and not the
>other.
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I entirely understand your claims, and feel familiar with much of
the history that supports them.  We have interesting counter-ex-
amples at hand, though; how does it happen that CPython and JPython
happily co-exist?  In fact, I think the question is even weightier;
while there are small but definite incompatibilities between suf-
ficiently distant releases of CPython, my perception is that it's
more acceptable in the Python community to use version 1.2, say,
than it would be for a VB developer not to "keep up".  Do others
see it that way?

I summarize:  I have a few data that make me think Pythonia is
more comfortable with (some kinds of?) forking than I would have
naively believed.  Do others see that?  Is it true?  Why?
-- 

Cameron Laird <claird at NeoSoft.com>
Business:  http://www.Phaseit.net
Personal:  http://starbase.neosoft.com/~claird/home.html