yet another "Here's to 1.5.2" post

[Greg Weeks]

Actually, Python 1.5.2 was already a bit too large.  The functional
programming constructs (lambda, map, reduce, filter) are fluff.

List comprehension is cutesy and practically Perlish, an idiosyncrasy
reminiscent (in flavor and aroma) to Perl's ".." operator.

"print" has always been something of a blemish.  Adding more functionality
to it doesn't seem like a good idea.  The new syntax smells bad.

The so-called "nested scopes" added in 2.1 are a mistake.  They take away
i) a simple rule and ii) the ability to capture the scope at any point in a
program with two dictionaries.

With somewhat less confidence -- and really, what's the point of being sure
about this (like it matters!) -- I think the redefinition "/" and the
addition of a boolean type were bad choices.

Now, if only the energy that was put into adding the above blemishes had
been placed into making Python more robustly installable.  On my system
(HP-UX 10.2) with my reasonable efforts at building a system:

    in 1.5.2, there is no FCNTL module

    in 2.2, "configure" fails due to erroneous C pre-processor code

    in 2.2, "make test" fails for reasons I haven't had the time to pin down

I'll keep using Python, so long as Python fills the Perl niche better than
Perl.  But creeping TIMTOWTDI and installation problems make me worry,
worry, worry.


Greg