Re:Writing Software to Last 50 Years
by CJefferson on Wednesday January 15, 2020 @02:41AM
(#22052390)
There are huge number of python programs which will shortly got very difficult to run. Perl still supports v5, in most cases it is easy to run old Java, C, C++ and Haskell code (in my experience). Python is unique is working extremely hard to kill off an older version, going as far as threatening to sue anyone who tries to keep it running.
I don't believe it would take that much work to keep python 2 in maingence mode, and I also think if the PSF asked for a company to officially take over they would easily find one.
We are in the very infancy of computer programming. Computers will likely be around for centuries, maybe even thousands of years. The best time to remove historical baggage and get everyone to switch was 10 years ago, the second best is now. IPv6 shows that if you "treat users nicely" you might not live to see the results.
And obviously we benefit too because we get to use a better language.