Ask HN: Why are there 2 Pythons? (2.7 & 3.1.2)

#1

Post by captaincrunch » Mon, Jul 05, 2010, 12:28 AM UTC

Looks to me like both are stable? Which one should you use for new projects?

Re: Ask HN: Why are there 2 Pythons? (2.7 & 3.1.2)

#2

Post by makecheck » Mon, Jul 05, 2010, 12:38 AM UTC

If you're doing something completely new that will never interact with older code bases, Python 3 seems like the best choice. This is where the language is ultimately going.

However, if you have to integrate with almost anything in 2.x land, such as 3rd party libraries, you may have no choice but to keep using 2.x for awhile. As usual, even from this older version, there are ways to voluntarily import future capabilities so that your code is as 3.x-like as possible.

Re: Ask HN: Why are there 2 Pythons? (2.7 & 3.1.2)

#3

Post by galois » Mon, Jul 05, 2010, 12:52 AM UTC

2.5.4

Re: Ask HN: Why are there 2 Pythons? (2.7 & 3.1.2)

#4

Post by adestefan » Mon, Jul 05, 2010, 1:13 AM UTC

Python 3 is not backwards compatible with Python 2. The developers have always stated that Python 3 will be a 5 year project until the entire standard library is ported.

Re: Ask HN: Why are there 2 Pythons? (2.7 & 3.1.2)

#5

Post by devinj » Mon, Jul 05, 2010, 1:13 AM UTC

http://wiki.python.org/moin/Python2orPython3 was created recently to answer just such a question, quite recently in fact (some people were asking similar questions and the issue of the quality of the stock answers was raised in comp.lang.python).

Re: Ask HN: Why are there 2 Pythons? (2.7 & 3.1.2)

#6

Post by j_baker » Mon, Jul 05, 2010, 1:22 AM UTC

adestefan wrote: post #4

Python 3 is not backwards compatible with Python 2. The developers have always stated that Python 3 will be a 5 year project until the entire standard library is ported.

I think you mean to say "until third party libraries get migrated". The standard library is already migrated.

Re: Ask HN: Why are there 2 Pythons? (2.7 & 3.1.2)

#7

Post by mkramlich » Mon, Jul 05, 2010, 1:30 AM UTC

why can't you look in the obvious places to answer such a question without asking that on HN? (hint: Python.org and Google)

(no ill will, but an honest counter-question)

Re: Ask HN: Why are there 2 Pythons? (2.7 & 3.1.2)

#8

Post by allend » Mon, Jul 05, 2010, 1:35 AM UTC

mkramlich wrote: post #7

why can't you look in the obvious places to answer such a question without asking that on HN? (hint: Python.org and Google) (no ill will, but an honest counter-question)

karma?

Re: Ask HN: Why are there 2 Pythons? (2.7 & 3.1.2)

#9

Post by pgbovine » Mon, Jul 05, 2010, 1:51 AM UTC

allend wrote: post #8

mkramlich wrote: post #7

why can't you look in the obvious places to answer such a question without asking that on HN? (hint: Python.org and Google) (no ill will, but an honest counter-question)

karma?

less cynically ... perhaps the poster wanted the personal opinions of HN hackers, many of whom probably have first-hand experience with Python and might be able to give more personalized answers than what's on FAQ pages

Re: Ask HN: Why are there 2 Pythons? (2.7 & 3.1.2)

#10

Post by mkramlich » Mon, Jul 05, 2010, 2:15 AM UTC

pgbovine wrote: post #9

allend wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

karma?

less cynically ... perhaps the poster wanted the personal opinions of HN hackers, many of whom probably have first-hand experience with Python and might be able to give more personalized answers than what's on FAQ pages

ahhh, k.

so if that's the case, here's what I should do. i'll begin preparing a series of questions to post to HN in the coming weeks, to keep in the same spirit. Rough list to start with:

1. where do babies come from?

2. what is PageRank?

3. what sorts of languages can you write iPhone apps in such that they are allowed in the Apple store?

4. why might I want to write an app in C versus in BASIC?

i'll add more as the whim comes to me. ;)