Eliminating upgrade risk

[Tim Peters]

[John Roth]
> After enduring the PEP 238 threads for far too long, as well as other
> threads, I've come to the conclusion that Python is simply too unstable
> for real use.

Hmm.  That suggests to me you haven't really used it.

> Now, I've got a slightly different background here. Much of my
> professional life was in IBM mainframe shops,

Did IBM invite you to their internal bitch sessions?  This is Open Source,
John:  it's *all* out in plain view.  Heck, I'm the closest thing Guido has
to a PR department <yikes!>, and PEP 238 in particular is talking about
something that may change in 2 years.

> where installing a new version of the operating system, major utilities
> and language processors was essentially **guaranteed** not to break
> running applications.

I have no idea what "essentially **guaranteed**" means.  Was this a clause
in a legally binding contract?  Or a hyperbolic way of saying you usually
didn't have much trouble?  If it was legally binding, how much would you pay
to get the same kind of clause in a Python contract?  The community's
aggregate commitment to that cause so far is $0.00 <wink>.

> I can remember numerous upgrades where I had to do absolutely
> nothing on the applications side.
> ...

Believe it or not, most Python upgrades are like that too -- although we
don't currently charge you Big Bux for the opportunity to be locked to IBM
iron, I'm sure we could set a price for that too <wink>.

an-ibm-mainframe-shop-this-ain't-ly y'rs  - tim