being able to type `python` and start writing a program that would work nearly everywhere.
With compatibility break there was a decade of confusion, even the simplest print statement wouldn't work. I understand there were real reasons to do all that, but it did cause damage.
Steve Yegge put it better than I can[0]:
> the thing is, every single developer has choices. And if you make them rewrite their code enough times, some of those other choices are going to start looking mighty appealing. They’re not your hostages, as much as you’d like them to be. They are your guests. Python is still a very popular programming language, to be sure — but golly did Python 3(000) create a huge mess for themselves, their communities, and the users of their communities’ software — one that has been a train-wreck in progress for fifteen years and is still kicking.
> How much Python software was rewritten in Go (or Ruby, or some other alternative) because of that backwards incompatibility? How much new software was written in something other than Python, which might have been written in Python if Guido hadn’t burned everyone’s house down? It’s hard to say, but I can tell you, it hasn’t been good for Python. It’s a huge mess and everyone is miserable.
e3bc54b2|1 year ago
With compatibility break there was a decade of confusion, even the simplest print statement wouldn't work. I understand there were real reasons to do all that, but it did cause damage.
Steve Yegge put it better than I can[0]:
> the thing is, every single developer has choices. And if you make them rewrite their code enough times, some of those other choices are going to start looking mighty appealing. They’re not your hostages, as much as you’d like them to be. They are your guests. Python is still a very popular programming language, to be sure — but golly did Python 3(000) create a huge mess for themselves, their communities, and the users of their communities’ software — one that has been a train-wreck in progress for fifteen years and is still kicking.
> How much Python software was rewritten in Go (or Ruby, or some other alternative) because of that backwards incompatibility? How much new software was written in something other than Python, which might have been written in Python if Guido hadn’t burned everyone’s house down? It’s hard to say, but I can tell you, it hasn’t been good for Python. It’s a huge mess and everyone is miserable.
[0] https://steve-yegge.medium.com/dear-google-cloud-your-deprec...
otabdeveloper4|1 year ago
No there weren't. It's just pure idiocy and incompetence.