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It's the paradox of the heap. Should Python 2.6 be considered a different language than Python 2.7? What about Python 1.6 and Python 2.0? Perl 5 and Perl 6? Wha
by cesarb 7y ago
It's the paradox of the heap. Should Python 2.6 be considered a different language than Python 2.7? What about Python 1.6 and Python 2.0? Perl 5 and Perl 6? What's the exact amount of changes necessary to switch between "new version of the same language" and "new language"? You might thing that the answer is "breaking changes", but every change breaks someone's workflow (https://xkcd.com/1172/ https://xkcd.com/1172/), and even a minor release like Python 2.7.9 had some breaking changes (and yet it's widely considered the same language as Python 2.7.8).
- downerending 7y agoI consider Python 2.latest to be the same language as Python 1.5.2, which was the first I used. They are upward compatible, aside from very small and presumably unavoidable changes. Python 3 is pretty similar, but nonetheless is very different, thinking of it as the same language will cause you grief. Modern advice is to use the 'python2' and 'python3' commands--never just 'python'.