Python.org decided to sunset Python 2 on January 1, 2020. This means that the community who maintains the beloved programming language will not be improving Python 2, even if a security issue is found out. Python 2 had a great life span of 20 years. While Python 3 was rolled out quite early, in 2006, developers kept working with Python 2 and the community therefore duly maintained both the versions. The last version of the Python 2, 2.7.18, would be rolled in April 2020, and that would be the final version.
If you are still in a state of flux and meaning to wait until 2.7.18 releases, as an experienced Python development company, we offer 5 reasons to convince you otherwise.
Python 3 has proven its mettle already
Python 3 community patted its back when Instagram reported close to 12% improvement in CPU performance and a 30% improvement in the usage of memory resources after it migrated to Python 3 and updated to Django 2.0. When companies of such prominence as Instagram have affirmed the efficiency gains through migration, it is high time that the rest of the Python 2 projects follow suit.
Python 2 Software will get increasingly prone to Security Breaches
It is a well-known fact that the legacy software are vulnerable to breach incidences as they are closed systems with little support from the developing community. Since Python community won’t be supporting the Python 2 version and also because most of the developers are already invested in Python 3, the Python 2 projects will keep on getting prone to security breaches. Though securing a Python interpreter won’t be much difficult, but if you plan to maintain the project with the 2.7.18 version, any security patch now onward would be unofficial. You might even end up patching manually if you are not using a long-support distribution like Linux. Gradually, around mid-2019, third-party dependencies began shedding support for Python 2 and this also adds to Python 2 woes.
Third-Party Python libraries will not roll updates for Python 2
Being an open-source programming language and having been on the development block for almost three decades now, Python has a rich stack of third-party libraries. The collection is vast, inexpensive, and fairly easy to use. Ready-made solutions for basic functionalities have helped developers in accelerating SDLC. After the official sunset of Python 2, almost all the popular libraries will discontinue rolling its updates. Integrating obsolete libraries would make the software prone to security breaches and may attract an additional cost of development in rectifying the same. Since Python is open source, you might get new fixes for even obsolete libraries but the authenticity of these fixes would be doubtful.
Python 2 Projects will incur incremental maintenance costs
In the not-so-distant future, talent with proficiency or interest in Python 2 will plummet. It will be difficult to hire Python developers for maintaining the project built on the relic version, not-to-mention that sticking to obsolete technologies leads to employee attrition. Even if you happen to find Python 2 experts, it will be costlier to loop them in for fixing an obsolete technology because not only they would be fewer, your increasing dependency will make them quote a higher price. Some organizations are still pondering that upfront investment in migration to Python 3 and restructuring the entire IT ecosystem would be costlier, but as an experienced Python development services provider, we know that it is far from the ground truth. The latest technology proves to be more economic in the long run when you consider the cost of inefficiency, troubleshooting, and distrust with end-users.
With added features, Python 3 is way better
Python 3 was released in 2006, and in a decade-plus of its existence, it has gained all the advantages of Python 3– the easy availability of third party libraries, strong developer community for debugging and troubleshooting. Besides, Python 3 is unarguably the better version. Whether it is strings that are Unicode by default or type annotations that improve static code analysis or the best part-chained exceptions; Python 3 undoubtedly eases a developer’s job.
Summing Up
Python 2 has lingered a bit too long. And as a Python web development company, invested in Python projects with different industries, we see no reason for the Python community to recall the sunset that was announced some five years ago. We speculate that maybe Linux distributions will offer critical security fixes for popular libraries this year, but then they would have to stop doing it for the future. While some developers have been able to funnel some of the Python 3 features in Python 2 through forks and back-ports, still it is not a safe way to maintain the project.
If you are still in a state of flux and meaning to wait until 2.7.18 releases, as an experienced Python development company, we offer 5 reasons to convince you otherwise.
Python 3 has proven its mettle already
Python 3 community patted its back when Instagram reported close to 12% improvement in CPU performance and a 30% improvement in the usage of memory resources after it migrated to Python 3 and updated to Django 2.0. When companies of such prominence as Instagram have affirmed the efficiency gains through migration, it is high time that the rest of the Python 2 projects follow suit.
Python 2 Software will get increasingly prone to Security Breaches
It is a well-known fact that the legacy software are vulnerable to breach incidences as they are closed systems with little support from the developing community. Since Python community won’t be supporting the Python 2 version and also because most of the developers are already invested in Python 3, the Python 2 projects will keep on getting prone to security breaches. Though securing a Python interpreter won’t be much difficult, but if you plan to maintain the project with the 2.7.18 version, any security patch now onward would be unofficial. You might even end up patching manually if you are not using a long-support distribution like Linux. Gradually, around mid-2019, third-party dependencies began shedding support for Python 2 and this also adds to Python 2 woes.
Third-Party Python libraries will not roll updates for Python 2
Being an open-source programming language and having been on the development block for almost three decades now, Python has a rich stack of third-party libraries. The collection is vast, inexpensive, and fairly easy to use. Ready-made solutions for basic functionalities have helped developers in accelerating SDLC. After the official sunset of Python 2, almost all the popular libraries will discontinue rolling its updates. Integrating obsolete libraries would make the software prone to security breaches and may attract an additional cost of development in rectifying the same. Since Python is open source, you might get new fixes for even obsolete libraries but the authenticity of these fixes would be doubtful.
Python 2 Projects will incur incremental maintenance costs
In the not-so-distant future, talent with proficiency or interest in Python 2 will plummet. It will be difficult to hire Python developers for maintaining the project built on the relic version, not-to-mention that sticking to obsolete technologies leads to employee attrition. Even if you happen to find Python 2 experts, it will be costlier to loop them in for fixing an obsolete technology because not only they would be fewer, your increasing dependency will make them quote a higher price. Some organizations are still pondering that upfront investment in migration to Python 3 and restructuring the entire IT ecosystem would be costlier, but as an experienced Python development services provider, we know that it is far from the ground truth. The latest technology proves to be more economic in the long run when you consider the cost of inefficiency, troubleshooting, and distrust with end-users.
With added features, Python 3 is way better
Python 3 was released in 2006, and in a decade-plus of its existence, it has gained all the advantages of Python 3– the easy availability of third party libraries, strong developer community for debugging and troubleshooting. Besides, Python 3 is unarguably the better version. Whether it is strings that are Unicode by default or type annotations that improve static code analysis or the best part-chained exceptions; Python 3 undoubtedly eases a developer’s job.
Summing Up
Python 2 has lingered a bit too long. And as a Python web development company, invested in Python projects with different industries, we see no reason for the Python community to recall the sunset that was announced some five years ago. We speculate that maybe Linux distributions will offer critical security fixes for popular libraries this year, but then they would have to stop doing it for the future. While some developers have been able to funnel some of the Python 3 features in Python 2 through forks and back-ports, still it is not a safe way to maintain the project.
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