Stephan Schulz, 27.04.2010 12:57:
I've been using Python for a long while (certainly since it was 1.X),
and I've taught some aspects of it in my lectures. I'm now thinking of
preparing a new lecture where some of the theoretical concepts will be
illustrated by implementations of e.g. automata and DPLL provers,
preferably in Python.
I'm so far only familiar with Python 2.X. Is Python 3 sucessful enough
to make a switch worthwhile now? Or will students still face an
infrastructure with mostly Python 2.X deployed in, say, 2 years time,
when they graduate?
Most likely, yes, although it will depend very much on the exact spot you
look at. In two years time, I'd expect that the mass of open-source
projects will have made the switch, many companies will have followed, but
many others will still be using Py2. It depends on the size of their code
base, the availability of truly required dependencies, the urge to keep
using a well supported and future proof runtime, and various non-technical
issues.
Anyway, if you intend to use Python for teaching, I'd consider it worth
teaching Py3 now, simply because it's a cleaner language that goes out of
your way another little bit more than Py2. It's also less outdated cruft to
talk about, e.g. old-style classes are gone, unicode issues are mostly gone
or at least easier to explain (and worth explaining when they occur). It's
just more fun to work with. :)
Just my two €-cents...
Stefan
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