On 2011-08-27, at 2:20 PM, Dan Stromberg wrote: > > On Sat, Aug 27, 2011 at 9:53 AM, Brian Curtin <brian.cur...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Sat, Aug 27, 2011 at 11:48, Dan Stromberg <drsali...@gmail.com> wrote: > No, this was not the intent of __future__. The intent is that a > feature is desirable but also backwards incompatible (e.g. introduces > a new keyword) so that for 1 (sometimes more) releases we require the > users to use the __future__ import. > > There was never any intent to use __future__ for experimental > features. If we want that maybe we could have from __experimental__ > import <whatever>. > > OK. So what -is- the purpose of from __future__ import? > > It's in the first paragraph. > > I disagree. The first paragraph says this has something to do with new > keywords. It doesn't appear to say what we expect users to -do- with it. > Both are important. > > Is it "You'd better try this, because it's going in eventually. If you don't > try it out before it becomes default behavior, you have no right to complain"? > > And if people do complain, what are python-dev's options? >
__future__ imports have nothing to do with "trying stuff before it comes", it has to do with backward compatibility. For example, the "with_statement" was a __future__ import because introducing the "with" keyword would break any code using "with" as a token. I don't think that the goal of introducing "with" as a future import was "we're gonna see how it pans out, and decide if we really introduce it later". __future__ means "It's coming, prepare your code". _______________________________________________ Python-Dev mailing list Python-Dev@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com
