[rifung]

You could certainly make an argument that people who are just starting to learn Python should learn Python 3 instead of 2 no? And that being the case, it'd be nice if they could just use what they are used to instead of having to learn all the changes on top of the language itself

[jbdigriz]

You could make that statement, but without giving a reason its less reason and more religion. Either way, I'd counter that for someone starting out, python 2 vs 3 is irrelevant - learning core features, pythonic style, exception handling and testing should be the focus. In fact, even more so if they ultimately intend to use python 3 because they're going to have to refactor or completely rewrite the huge number of third party libraries which haven't been ported yet.

FWIW, I've been working as an enterprise dev in finance tech for a decade and have yet to see or hear of anyone using python 3 in that setting. My current firm is a global industry leader with arguably the most advanced and costly system of its kind ever conceived - it runs on 32 bit Python 2.6.

In general, if you want to have gainful employment you're best served by not being attached to any one language because most of enterprise runs everything a few versions back as they've learned the cutting edge is not a cliche - it's literal.

[rifung]

I think you misunderstand me; I was only trying to answer your question, "why sad face?"

I didn't give a reason because I wasn't trying to say Python 3 is better than Python 2. I was only stating that one could make the argument that a beginner would be better off learning Python 3 instead of Python 2, being that it's generally accepted that neither are necessarily bad. And from that it seems reasonable to assume some people have learned Python 3 but not Python 2. And finally, being that there are people who have learned Python 3 but not 2, someone might post a "sad face" because they want to use what they are comfortable with instead of being forced to learn something new.

I don't disagree with any of your points. But I don't think it should be hard to imagine there might be some people out there with different backgrounds or goals who would be better suited to learning Python 3 or at least for who the choice would not lean too heavily one way or the other.

Obviously not everyone is planning to work in your industry or even learning Python for the sake of using it for a (future) job.

Hope that makes sense and answers your question.