Python 3000
Guido van Rossum posted an update on Python 3000, the next big Python release that is due out in alpha form by the end of the year. What’s interesting about this release is that it is throwing backwards compatibility to the wind. It will definitely be fascinating to see how that turns out.
Overall, I’m pretty excited about this new release. The Python crew is trying to do away with a lot of cruft that has been building up over the years. One of the biggest changes is in printing and formatting. There will no longer be a print statement. Printing message will now be done with print() function. The % string formatting character will also be removed. The most interesting part though is the new formatting strings. They are no longer in the form of “%s” or “%(name)s”. In fact, they look more like a page templating language now with ways to reference attributes, mappings, and sequences.
One thing I’m looking forward to is unicode everywhere. Working on plasTeX has shown me just how vigilant you have to be in programming to keep all of your strings in unicode form. This should make things easier.
