Why has python3 been created as a seperate language where there is still python2.7 ?

[Stefan Behnel]

Devin Jeanpierre, 26.06.2012 08:15:
> On Mon, Jun 25, 2012 at 11:35 PM, Steven D'Aprano
>> Making print a statement in the first place was a mistake, but
>> fortunately it was a simple enough mistake to rectify once the need for
>> backward compatibility was relaxed.
> 
> Hmmm, why is the function so much better than the statement? You like
> using it in expressions? Or is it that you like passing it in as a
> callback?

First of all, the statement has a rather special syntax that is not obvious
and practically non-extensible. It also has hidden semantics that are hard
to explain and mixes formatting with output - soft-space, anyone?

The function is straight forward, configurable, does one thing, works with
help() and doesn't get in the way. And something as rarely[1] used as a
print simply doesn't deserve special syntax. Oh, and, yes, you can even
pass it into some code as callback, although I rarely had a need for that.

Stefan


[1] Seriously, it's not very helpful in interactive mode and too simplistic
to be used in application code. Even scripts often work better with logging
than with prints.