Python 3.0 Breaks Backwards Compat

But has lots of shiny new thigns to play with.

• You can see Python.orgs announcement.
• And read Ars take.

My Take

It feels like its been in development for a lifetime and its hard to believe its finally come around.  Some highlights include:

• Print is now a function so must be called like:

  print("Doug is king of the world")

• Comparisons tightened up – No longer can you mix and match differing types without getting a ValueError raised.
• No longer a need for “long” as all ints are technically longs.
• Finally the “1/2″ expression returns a float.
• “as” and “with” introduced.
• Can no longer use back ticks.
• No longer use <> to mean != (thank god – I hated that!!)
• Automatically attempts to import C-based modules when importing the standard Python versions.

Loads, loads more but I’m hardly going to rewrite the entire changes document verbatim.  If you really want the full list then go here.

I’m happy with change though I can see some of these taking some getting used to.  Especially some of the most commonly used, core areas of the language.

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