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Python 2 and Python 3 are effectively different languages in the way that VB and C# are different languages. Does it seem strange that some people code in VB when C# exists?

Python 3 isn't just a little bit incompatible in a few places, it has widespread incompatibilities and is therefore effectively a different language.




That's a pretty bad comparison. The differences between VB and C# are much more dramatic than the differences between Python 2 and Python 3.


I dunno, it is kind of reasonable. C# was designed with a different mindset, but the intents were the same - take a predecessor (VB / Python2) and make them more modern, fix the gotchas and mindfuck, and produce something more refined that isn't backwards compatible.

C# takes it much further, and iterates on syntax a lot more, but Python3's breakage from Python2's is comparable I feel, just not in nearly as extreme a case.


> Python3's breakage from Python2's is comparable I feel

They're not. You can create "single source" Python packages working on both Python 2 and Python 3. Good luck doing that with C# and VB.


It is trivial to write new projects that work on both Python 2.7 and 3.3. So trivial in fact that I did it without trying to several times.


The comparison may have made more sense with C and C++...


That would be an exaggeration too. More like K&R C vs ANSI C.




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