A Python for Future Generations

Keynote at EuroPython 2017 in Rimini.

Transcript

1. A Python for Future
   Generations
   Armin @mitsuhiko Ronacher
   

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2. Hi, I'm Armin
   ... and I do Open Source,
   lots of Python and SaaS
   Flask
   Sentry
   …
   

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3. … and here is
   where you
   can find me
   twitter.com/@mitsuhiko
   github.com/mitsuhiko
   lucumr.pocoo.org/
   

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4. ‘raising awareness’
   

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5. the grass is always greener somewhere
   

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6. … what's Python anyway?
   

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7. Python is
   whatever cpython does
   

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8. behavior & stdlib
   

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9. a + b = ?
   

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10. a.__add__(b) ?
    

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11. type(a).__add__(a, b) ?
    

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12. a.__class__.__add__(a, b) ?
    

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13. they are all not
    necessarily correct
    

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14. 1 0 LOAD_FAST 0 (a)
    3 LOAD_FAST 1 (b)
    6 BINARY_ADD
    

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15. which is “obj as num”.add
    or “obj as sequence”.concat
    

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16. gave us unclear behavior
    when subclassing builtins
    

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17. there is no “+” operator
    

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18. there is PyNumber_Add
    and PySequence_Concat
    

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19. does it matter?
    

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20. debatable but … kinda?
    

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21. pypy, jython all copy the quirks
    because
    

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22. they want high compatibility
    because
    

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23. users would not use it if it was
    not compatible
    because
    

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24. prevents more innovative
    language changes
    

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25. Python in 30 Years?
    

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26. make the python we use
    more like the python we teach
    

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27. it's a common story
    

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28. python developers
    value compatibility
    

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29. distutils
    implements original setup.py
    

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30. setuptools
    monkey patches distutils to
    support Python eggs
    

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31. pip
    monkey patches setuptools on the
    fly to manage python packages
    

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32. wheel
    monkey patches setuptools to
    build wheels instead of eggs
    

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33. cffi
    monkey patches setuptools and
    distutils to build extensions
    

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34. snaek
    monkey patches cffi to build
    Rust extension modules
    

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35. the GIL
    

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36. the only reason removing the GIL
    is hard is backwards compatibility
    

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37. looks like we're not good
    at breaking compatibility
    

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38. our only attempt was
    both radical and not
    radical enough
    

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39. future of “scripting” languages
    

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40. they are here to stay
    

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41. but they will look different
    

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42. standards + ecosystem
    

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43. if we want to be here in 30
    years, we need to evolve
    

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44. where we did well
    

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45. interpreter code
    is readable
    

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46. ease of compilation
    

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47. extensibility
    

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48. flat dependency chains
    

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49. runtime
    introspection
    

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50. what we should probably do
    

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51. easier and clearer
    language behavior
    

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52. looking elsewhere
    

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53. JavaScript
    

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54. Rust
    

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55. both are new and modern
    both learned from mistakes
    

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56. packaging and modules
    

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57. packaging and modules
    package.json
    Cargo.toml
    

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58. packaging and modules
    • metadata is runtime available
    • by default no code execution on installation
    • (optionally) multiple versions per library
    • public vs private / peer dependencies
    

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59. packaging and modules
    • we're moving away from setup.py install
    • pip is a separate tool
    • wheels
    • multi-version would require metadata access
    where are we now?
    

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60. packaging and modules
    • we can steal from others
    • can target python 3 only if needed
    realistic change?
    

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61. language standard
    

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62. language standard
    • javascript: clarify interpreter behavior
    • simplified language subset?
    • generally leaner language?
    • more oversight over language development
    

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63. language standard
    • maybe micropython and other things can lead
    the way
    • community can kill extension modules for CFFI
    realistic change?
    

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64. unicode
    

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65. unicode
    utf-8 everywhere
    wtf-8 where needed
    

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66. unicode
    • very little guessing
    • rust: operating system string type
    • rust: free from utf-8 to os-string and bytes
    • explicit unicode character APIs
    • emojis mean no basic plane
    

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67. packaging and modules
    • we would need to kill string slicing
    • utf-8 everywhere is straightforward
    • kill surrogate-escapes for a real os string?
    realistic change?
    

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68. extension modules
    

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69. extension modules
    more cffi
    less libpython
    

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70. extension modules
    • tricky for things like numpy
    • generally possible for many uses
    realistic change?
    

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71. linters & type annotations
    

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72. linters & type annotations
    babel, eslint, …
    typescript, flow, …
    

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73. linters & type annotations
    rustfmt, gofmt, prettier, …
    

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74. linters & type annotations
    • maybe?
    • typing in Python 3 might go this way
    realistic change?
    

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75. what you can do!
    

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76. abuse the language less
    

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77. sys._getframe(N).f_locals['_wat'] = 42
    

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78. class X(dict):
    

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79. stop writing non cffi extensions
    

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80. stop being clever with sys.modules
    

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81. awareness is the first step
    

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82. QA
    &
    

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