[Biopython-dev] Planning to drop Python 2 support by 2020?

[João Rodrigues]

Hi Peter (and all),

Don't take me wrong. I do agree that it is a good idea, I just think it's
very hard to implement in practice. As I mentioned in the other thread, I
work with code written in the 80s, that's how it is in some fields. I only
recently moved to Python 3.x because I got a new laptop and decided to take
the plunge... all my code works with Python 2 and I rarely make use of 3.x
features (maybe I should?). I had to do some fixing to some of my scripts
but that's because I wrote them and I am fairly familiar with the language.
A user of a script or of a library would very likely not know how to fix
it, and we all know how often zombie code survives after the original
developer moved on to another lab/position. Regardless, as Tiago mentioned,
many other Python libraries will drop support anyway so we'll be left
behind. He's right.

My only recommendation would be to have a release that supports Python 2.x
and keep that available for download. Perhaps even still support it
regarding bug fixing, but freeze any new features. This way we can still
support any users left with Python 2.x on their systems, whether because
upgrading causes a bunch of problems or because they are actually
technically incapable of doing it themselves, or both.

Cheers,

João
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