[Python-Dev] The next major Python version will be Python 8

Hi, Python 3 becomes more and more popular and is close to a dangerous point where it can become popular that Python 2. The PSF decided that it's time to elaborate a new secret plan to ensure that Python users suffer again with a new major release breaking all their legacy code. The PSF is happy to announce that the new Python release will be Python 8! Why the version 8? It's just to be greater than Perl 6 and PHP 7, but it's also a mnemonic for PEP 8. By the way, each minor release will now multiply the version by 2. With Python 8 released in 2016 and one release every two years, we will beat Firefox 44 in 2022 (Python 64) and Windows 2003 in 2032 (Python 2048). A major release requires a major change to justify a version bump: the new killer feature is that it's no longer possible to import a module which does not respect the PEP 8. It ensures that all your code is pure. Example: $ python8 -c 'import keyword' Lib/keyword.py:16:1: E122 continuation line missing indentation or outdented Lib/keyword.py:16:1: E265 block comment should start with '# ' Lib/keyword.py:50:1: E122 continuation line missing indentation or outdented (...) ImportError: no pep8, no glory Good news: since *no* module of the current standard library of Python 3 respect the PEP 8, the standard library will be simplified to one unique module, which is new in Python 8: pep8. The standard library will move to the Python Cheeseshop (PyPI), to reply to an old and popular request. DON'T PANIC! You are still able to import your legacy code into Python 8, you just have to rename all your modules to add a "_noqa" suffix to the filename. For example, rename utils.py to utils_noqa.py. A side effect is that you have to update all imports. For example, replace "import django" with "import django_noqa". After a study of the PSF, it's a best option to split again the Python community and make sure that all users are angry. The plan is that in 10 years, at least 50% of the 77,000 packages on the Python cheeseshop will be updated to get the "_noqa" tag. After 2020, the PSF will start to sponsor trolls to harass users of the legacy Python 3 to force them to migrate to Python 8. Python 8 is a work-in-progress (it's still an alpha version), the standard library was not removed yet. Hopefully, trying to import any module of the standard library fails. Don't hesitate to propose more ideas to make Python 8 more incompatible with Python 3! Note: The change is already effective in the default branch of Python: https://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/9aedec2dbc01 Have fun, Victor