2025-11-22 –, Plenary Space
Python is a Good Language. It was a Good Language when I started using it. It probably was for you, too.
But Python is a very different language these days. The Python of 3.14 is noticeably not the same as the Python of 3.9, which is noticeably not the same as the Python of 3.6, and so on. And let's not mention the difference between Python 2.6 and 3.0 (oops).
Is the language you thought was a Good Language when you first used it still a Good Language? If it is, why are you using newer versions?
While new language features have (traditionally) had a high bar for integration into the language, resulting in an opinionated set of features that is generally Pretty Good, not everything is. Python has made design mistakes throughout its existence, but somewhat uniquely among languages, it's made concerted efforts to improve upon those mistakes and socialise the improved versions.
We're going to look at a history of language features in Python, we'll look at what we have now, and what unfortunateness we've left along the way.
Anyone
Christopher Neugebauer is an Australian developer, speaker, and serial community conference organiser, who presently lives in the United States.
He serves as a Director of the Python Software Foundation, and is co-organiser of the acclaimed North Bay Python conference, a boutique one-track conference run in unusual venues — include an old vaudeville theatre, and more recently a barn on a farm — in Petaluma, California.