[Python-Dev] a quit that actually quits

Thu Dec 29 08:09:04 CET 2005

Guido van Rossum wrote:
> On 12/27/05, Fredrik Lundh <fredrik at pythonware.com> wrote:
>>>but now we're back to today's situation:
>>>> >>> quit
>> 'Use Ctrl-Z plus Return to exit.'
>>>>which violates the basic "if you know what I mean, why the /!"&/&!//%¤
>>don't you do what I say" usability rule.
>>> What nonsense. Every Python programmer knows that the right way to
> exit Python is to enter a platform EOF. The quit and exit variables
> are compromises for non-programmers who have accidentally entered
> Python and who don't know how to get out of it (this is usually the
> same category of people who don't know how or don't dare to kill a
> program using heavy artillery).
>Except that if you have iPython installed on Windows you *don't* enter 
the platform EOF any more, you enter CTRL/D (which threw me for a 
while). Plus the standard Windows build requires a return after the 
CTRL/Z while the Pythonware versions (last time I looked) only required 
the CTRL/Z. So the situation is a little less black-and-white than it 
might be.
> Rather than improving upon the quit/exit functionality a la /F's patch
> I'd get rid of the compromise.
>I *have* been surprised by the amount on brainpower that's been expended 
on this discussion.
> Now, for Py3K we could try to come up with a more intelligent
> interactive mode. Probably not implemented in C. Perhaps using ideas
> from ipython (which I've personally never used). We might provide a
> quit or exit command using a more sophisticated mechanism. But there
> are always costs (e.g. the violation of the primciple that typing a
> name shows its repr()).
>> In the mean time I'm a strong believer in "it ain't broke so don't fix it" here.
>+1, with the proviso that we might add a description of how to exit to 
the interactive rubric (if anyone can work out exactly what that would 
be under all circumstances).
regards
 Steve
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