I think Python 3 offers more than you think it does. I'm not going to try to convince you, but having used it steadily for the last month or so, I really think it does.
It does offer some things, but does it offer a "divide the community, halt the old version and still go nowhere much adoption-wise after 5 whole years" worth of things?
I started using Python when "Python 3000" (as 3 was called then) was just a pipe dream for the distant future. For all the trouble with the migration, it doesn't really offer much groundbreaking things.
Removal of GIL, a JIT, a few times or an order of magnitude faster, an integrated new async model etc would have been great. UTF-8 and a few tricks that could just as easily be added in 2.8? Not so much.
The GIL and a JIT are low level implementation issues though, right? E.g., Python 3 can be implemented in PyPy (and it looks like that's in the works).
Most of the Python 3 changes are design and feature related, and it's a lot more than just "UTF-8 and a few tricks".
Comments
I think Python 3 offers more than you think it does. I'm not going to try to convince you, but having used it steadily for the last month or so, I really think it does.
It does offer some things, but does it offer a "divide the community, halt the old version and still go nowhere much adoption-wise after 5 whole years" worth of things?
I started using Python when "Python 3000" (as 3 was called then) was just a pipe dream for the distant future. For all the trouble with the migration, it doesn't really offer much groundbreaking things.
Removal of GIL, a JIT, a few times or an order of magnitude faster, an integrated new async model etc would have been great. UTF-8 and a few tricks that could just as easily be added in 2.8? Not so much.
The GIL and a JIT are low level implementation issues though, right? E.g., Python 3 can be implemented in PyPy (and it looks like that's in the works).
Most of the Python 3 changes are design and feature related, and it's a lot more than just "UTF-8 and a few tricks".
For example, Python 3.4 is adding asyncio (http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3156/).
And if you look at the _What's New In Python 3.x pages_, there's a ton of new stuff.
edit: forgot a word
I am starting to hope for a PyPy 2.8 or a PyPy 3000 that removes the GIL. Will have to wait and see how STM plays out.