Ask HN: What was Python 1 like?
I can hardly find any information or code snippets about it online. Has anyone worked with it? What were the drawbacks that led to Python 2?
The following is an excerpt from README.reconstructed.
Some quick differences from modern Python I found when using the resulting binary:
- classes must have the (), as in
class Spam():
pass
- There is no '__init__' function for instances. The
classes in the library by convention use 'Create()'
and that must be explicitly called.
- The library code does not consistently use 'self'.
- Only single quote strings 'like this' are allowed. "Double quoted"
strings are not allowed.
No decorators
Old-style classes(a distinction that makes almost no difference if you are using the class as a simple container with no inherited methods).
List comprehensions appeared in 2.0 and I struggled to grasp them for a little while.
The runtime might not have supported any cyclical reference collection(or I was just unaware at that point, being a student).
No iterators (2.1) or generators (2.2)
Python 1 to 2 was a simple transition, as it didn't do much to reassess the language's basics.
It's interesting that both Python 2.0 and Python 3.0 made fundamental changes to how the language deals with text.