[orangecat]

Python 3 allowed the Python developers to make some breaking changes to the language and libraries. These have, without a doubt, improved the language.

Sure. But the improvements aren't really that great, and IMO they weren't enough to justify breaking everything. Some combination of a JIT compiler, GIL removal, and optional typing might have been.

The end result is an improved and usable language

And this is why I view Python 3 as instance of choosing purity over practicality. Python 2 was and is a very usable language. It's vastly better than JavaScript, which took over the world by virtue of being available everywhere and having halfway decent performance, which ended up outweighing its huge flaws as a language. I can't help but think that we'd be better off if the effort spent on the Python 3 migration had instead been directed toward speed and browser support.

Perl 6 is an example of a real disaster, on the other hand.

Certainly can't argue with that.

[bwilliams]

It's a major release and the language does need to evolve at some point. I'd agree that Python maybe got a little too ambitious with the upgrade but it was definitely a good thing.