Python is culling stuff all the time, but that doesn't warrant a major version jump. You are probably right about Pythons careful approach of when to ship v4,

Python is culling stuff all the time, but that doesn't warrant a major version jump. You are probably right about Pythons careful approach of when to ship v4, but for the wrong reasons. Python 3 was necessary not for the removal of functions, but because of the syntax changes e.g., moving print from a statement to a method.