PEP 570: Python Positional-Only Parameters

Please put me down for a strong -1.

The / notation in the docstrings has been a failure with users. It is confusing and distracting.

The problem been solved is mostly an imagined problem. Real users almost never have a problem with CPython as it has been for almost 30 years.

Python has been getting harder and harder to teach. Instructors with a time limit have to pick and choose the topics to drop entirely. This proposal will make it worse.

Lastly, the notation looks gross (to my eyes at least). This is a language where we say beauty counts but then seem to be willing to throw it away for something that isn’t an actual problem in userland (or is at least a very, very minor problem that doesn’t interfere with day to day usability). I really don’t want to have to see, write, or teach something like this:

def name(p1, p2=None, /, p_or_kw=None, *, kw):

Please don’t do this.

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