Booleans, integer division, backwards compatibility; where is Python going?

[Peter Hansen]

James Logajan wrote:
> 
[snip history of most Python versions since 1.0]
> 
> > Seriously though, if this is a big concern for you (and it might well
> > be), target the 1.5.2 language spec and the chances of your code not
> > working even in 2.2 are slim, so I'm not sure what would be compelling
> > enough to make you abandon Python.
> 
> I tried that and that strategy _failed_. The chances of failure was 100%.
> The failure was due specifically to how (as far as I can tell) Tkinter
> handles UTF-8 sequences in Unicode aware versions of Python. 

Let me see if I'm clear on this.  You are complaining about the entire
history of Python releases because of a problem you had with _Unicode_?
When was Unicode added to Python?  

Did you really have such serious compatibility problems in other areas
that you were forced to abandon the language?  Or was it just personal
distaste at the pace of change?  Don't condemn the fast release cycle
just because you got screwed on one incompatibility.

I suspect part of the fast pace is because of the desire to get rapid
feedback to make sure the project is "on track" with its customers.
Traditionally change came across multiple years, but in today's world
many are trying to do more iterations less far apart so that they
can benefit from rapid feedback rather than having a project die
a slow death from lack of releases (cf Netscape).

-Peter