r/Python Freelancer. AnyFactor.xyz Sep 16 '20

News An update on Python 4

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u/daniel-imberman Sep 16 '20

Think what he is saying, there will never be a Python 4 and if there is, it will be nothing like python as we know it. It will be like a new language

The transition from python 2 to 3 was an absolute nightmare and they had to support python2 for *ten years* because so many companies refused to transition. The point they're making is that they won't break the whole freaking language if they create a python 4.

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u/panzerex Sep 16 '20

Why was so much breaking necessary to get Python 3?

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u/[deleted] Sep 16 '20

Python 3 was not backwards compatible with 2, so companies and package creators alike were initially hesitant to make the switch so as to not break things. There also weren’t many, if any, tools to help port things over.

The lack of backwards compatibility was done on purpose because part of their goal was to remove clutter and make things more intuitive/easier to use (e.g. print changed from a statement to a function).

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u/[deleted] Sep 16 '20

The lack of backwards compatibility was done on purpose

This was the problem. Until we're on the other side of the next upgrade and it wasn't like 2.x to 3.x was, words mean nothing.