[GRASS-dev] Min. req. of programming language standard support, GRASS GIS 8

[Anna Petrášová]

On Tue, Feb 2, 2021 at 11:20 AM Nicklas Larsson <n_larsson at yahoo.com> wrote:

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> On Friday, 29 January 2021, 18:50:34 CET, Anna Petrášová <
> kratochanna at gmail.com> wrote:
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> On Thu, Jan 28, 2021 at 4:28 AM Nicklas Larsson via grass-dev <
> grass-dev at lists.osgeo.org> wrote:
> > Dear Devs!
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> > As a relatively new member of the GRASS GIS dev community, I have had to
> search for information on mailing lists, old trac comments etc. regarding
> coding practice and in particular minimum programming language standard
> support. Ending up in not entirely conclusive understanding. Up until now,
> I have been mostly involved in Python development and I’m still not
> absolutely certain, although I assume 3.5 is minimum version. And I’m not
> alone, see e.g. [1].
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> > Now, I’ve encountered a similar dilemma with C standard support,
> attempting to address compiler warnings [2], in particular with the PR
> #1256 [3].
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> > I would be great if there were a (one) place where the min support of
> Python version, C (C89, C99, C11, C17…) and C++ (C++03, C++11, C++14 …)
> standard is stated -- loud and clear. Obviously, there has to be a
> consensus in the community on these matters for that to happen. Such a
> statement will also have to be revised now and then. (A related question is
> also whether or not to support 32 bit, which I know have been raised
> recently).
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> > I’d appreciate your opinion is on this issue!
> > Let me put up a a suggestion for min. req. for coming GRASS GIS 8 as a
> starting point of discussion:
> > - Python 3.7
> > - C11
> > - C++11
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> > Best regards,
> > Nicklas
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> Regarding Python, not sure if we shouldn't set 3.6 as minimum for G8, it
> is still used e.g. in Ubuntu 18. Any reason to set 3.7 as minimum, some
> specific features we would want to use?
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> Anna
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> > [1] https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/issues/1241
> > [2] https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/issues/1247
> > [3] https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/pull/1256
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > grass-dev at lists.osgeo.org
> > https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/grass-dev
> >
> >
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> Well, I don’t have a very strong opinion regarding 3.7, but personally I’d
> say 3.6 is an absolute minimum. I presume, for example, most of us would
> prefer to use f-strings for string formatting.
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yes, f-strings are nice although they have limitations for using with
translatable strings (Vashek can expand on that)

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> On the other hand, 3.6 will reach end-of-support at the end of this year
> right after its 5th birthday party and the support for data classes in 3.7
> may potentially offer intriguing applications in G8.
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I noticed the data classes as well. Given 3.6 is reaching end-of-support
soon, I agree with 3.7 for G8. I assume grass would be compatible with 3.6
for a while anyway.


> Ubuntu 18 has Python 3.6 and Debian 9 has Python 3.5! What will make the
> lowest common denominator? Debian 10 and Ubuntu 20 actually supports Python
> 3.7 and 3.8 respectively. Forgive me if I’m ignorant, but isn’t it possible
> to upgrade Python version on Ubuntu? Or is it just a pain with package
> dependencies? Relying on default Python has never/rarely been a luxury for
> other platforms.
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> That being said, I think the most important part of this is that the
> community make a clear decision on min. supported Python version.
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> Best,
> Nicklas
>
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