What qualifies¶

First and foremost, it must be understood that changes to the Pythonprogramming language are difficult to make. When the language changes,every Python programmer already in existence and all Python programmers tocome will end up eventually learning about the change you want to propose.Books will need updating, code will be changed, and a new way to do things willneed to be learned. Changes to the Python programming language are never takenlightly.

Because of the seriousness that language changes carry, any change must bebeneficial to a large proportion of Python users. If the change only benefits asmall percentage of Python developers then the change will not be made. A goodway to see if your idea would work for a large portion of the Python communityis to ask in theIdeas Discourse category. You can alsogo through Python’s stdlib and find examples of code which would benefit fromyour proposed change (which helps communicate the usefulness of your change toothers). For further guidance, seeSuggesting new features and language changes.

Your proposed change also needs to bePythonic. While only the SteeringCouncil can truly classify something as Pythonic, you can read theZen of Python for guidance.

Suggesting new features and language changes¶

TheIdeas Discourse categoryis specifically intended for discussion of new features and language changes.Please don’t be disappointed if your idea isn’t met with universal approval:as thelong list of Withdrawn and Rejected PEPsin thePEP Index attests,and as befits a reasonably mature programming language,getting significant changes into Python isn’t a simple task.

If the idea is reasonable, someone will suggest posting it as a featurerequest on theissue tracker, or, for larger changes,writing it up as PEP following thePEP process.

Sometimes core developers will differ in opinion,or merely be collectively unconvinced.When there isn’t an obvious victor, then theStatus Quo Wins a Stalemate.

For some examples on language changes that were accepted,seeJustifying Python Language Changes.

PEP process¶

Once you are certain you have a language change proposalwhich will appeal to the general Python community,you can begin thePEP processto officially propose the change.SeePEP 1 for information on PEPs and the PEP process,and thePEP Index for examples.

If the PEP is accepted, then your proposed language change will be introducedin the next release of Python.Otherwise, your PEP will be recorded as rejected along with an explanation,to inform others who may propose a similar language change in the future.