Daniel Steinberg's post today include a reference to Danese's unsantized notes on the first java.net community meeting.

Daniel also pointed to Andy Oliver's java.net Wiki pages on rethinking the JCP. Allowing and even encouraging voices of dissent is something that java.net needs to aspire to if it's to be taken seriously as a real community for Java.

Here's the counter-intuitive part: having a clear command structure and defined rules creates more conflict than not having them. People, instead of dealing with problems between each other, take them to the arbitrating body. People don't compromise when they can ask the command structure for a black and white decision.

When the strict rules and command structure go away, people have no recourse but to settle their differences one way or another.

But the problem is that Python is definitely crufty. There are so many spots where you can see how the language has been expanded - by force if necessary - throughout the years. Things like the way running an app works: you write a function that tests to see if matches "__main__", instead of an actual main() function. The fact that *every* method in a class needs to refer to "self" first (i.e.: method(self, otherParam) ) is ugly. And self isn't actually a reserved word, just a "strong convention". Ugh. As I learn more, I find more. In my opinion, Python could definitely use a new version rev, drop backwards compatability and clean up the cruft.