Testing Python 2.5!

It amazes me how much Python keeps improving as a language. I’m continually impressed by the community, and their desire to implement an enhancement to the language in a well thought-out, and public manner. When the opportunity came to take the new Python 2.5 beta for a spin, I couldn’t resist.

The get the full breakdown of what’s new in Python 2.5, take a look at PEP-356. I’ll give the summary of what I find most useful:

• ctypes is now part of the standard library
• sqlite3 is also part of the standard library
• There is now a functools module to help with functional programming (to do make things like currying easy to do)
• A new conditional expression has been added to provide an equivalent to the ternary operator in C (PEP-308

This list is only a smidgen of the work that’s taken place for 2.5. There’s a host of other features that I’m certain will become common tools down the road (I’m think the Coroutines via Enhanced Generators in particular.

I downloaded the Python 2.5 image for my Mac, and have been giving it a whirl, trying the syntax, and relishing in the fact that two modules I’ve been making use of are now standard. The functools’s partial() function is awesome, and I can finally throw out the ugly version that I did, which isn’t nearly as complete (but was sufficient)! The new ‘with’ syntax will also make threaded programming a little easier. All in all, I like the direction Python is moving in, and all I can say is “Keep it up!”