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[Python-Dev] Python 3 migration status update across some key subcommunities (was Re: 2.7 is here until 2020, please don't call it a waste.)

Stephen J. Turnbull stephen at xemacs.org
Sun May 31 17:39:14 CEST 2015 
Florian Bruhin writes:

 > I think a big issue here is the lack of good newcomer tutorials for
 > Python 3.

My business students (who are hardly advanced programmers) don't take
tutorials seriously.  They're way too focused on getting results.  And
there it's the "Doing <SOME PRACTICAL THING> with Python" books that
are the killer.  They just cargo cult those books, which are almost
all still Python-2-focused in my experience.

I don't think there's much we can do about those books except hope
they're popular enough to justify new editions in short order, but I
did want to point out that tutorials are not the only way beginners
are introduced to Python, and a lot of those entry ports remain
Python-2-oriented.

What I would really like to see is a Python 3 (and if you really need
Python 2, here's how it differs) version of Python: Essential
Reference.

BTW, for my students the main thing that trips them is not Unicode,
but rather things like the print function (vs. statement in Python 2).

 > But I also think nobody fresh to Python should start learning
 > Python 2 now, except when there's a compelling reason (such as
 > unported libraries without alternatives).

I agree, but the cargo cult thing is big for people coming to Python
because somebody told them it's a good way to do something practical.
(Fortunately my students have to deal with the insane proliferation of
encodings in Japan, so "less mojibake" is a compelling reason for
Python 3.  I get no backtalk.<wink/>)
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