[Python-Dev] "Unstable" is an ambiguous word...

Tue, 9 Apr 2002 16:41:49 +0200

On Tuesday 09 April 2002 04:27 pm, Guido van Rossum wrote:
	...
> I just applied a patch to typeobject.c that makes the x[y] operation
> three times faster when type(x) is a subclass of list that doesn't
> override __getitem__. This isn't a bug, so I didn't even think of
> considering it for 2.2.1 -- but now I'm seriously rethinking that, and
> it will probably end up in 2.2.2, since it also doesn't introduce any
> incompatible behavior (assuming there aren't any bugs in the patch :-).

*Applause*!!! This is EXACTLY the sort of thing I had in mind when
I was talking about *actively supported* releases on the stable track.
Exactly the kind of thing that gives managers that need to select a
language a warm, fuzzy feeling ... ! *Bravo*!
> But this is a serious amount of extra work -- as part of the change, I
> refactored some code, etc.

Sigh, I guess that's the downside:-(. Supporting stable-track releases
say "this IS alive and actively supported" exactly BECAUSE it takes
effort -- it's a message that validates itself as sincere.
Alex