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> I think the inclusion of things like zlib (or rot13 or whatever) was a conceptual error that just fosters confusion.

We should not optimize languages for idiots. There is nothing confusing about such an operation for anyone who can use their brain. Python 3 still contains those operations but instead of x.encode(y) you now do encode(x, y).



The principle of least astonishment and optimizing for idiocy are not the same thing.


How is an attribute error clearer than an exception that says something like: operation does not make sense of this type?




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