might compatibility become a *goal*?

[Tom Loredo]

My impression, as a heavy user since 1.5.2, is that the Python dev
crew have bent over backwards to maintain backward compatibility
in the sense of having old code run under new versions, and have
also been very cautious and conservative regarding adding new
features that would prevent new code from running under old versions.
Having watched the discussion surrounding many of these choices
over the past 3 years or so, I have to say that I am extremely
impressed by the insight and wisdom shown by the developers as
a community.  Sometimes it has taken me a while to appreciate
their reasoning, but I can't think of a case where I didn't
come to agree with them, if not immediately, then at least after
living with the change a while.

I think for this discussion to be useful, you need to distinguish
between the meanings of "backwards compatibility" and be specific
about any changes that have bothered you.

-Tom Loredo