It's simple, it was added to counter-balance the smug ascertainment of Guido's ignorance, and the taken-for-granted assumption that we'd be so much better if he modeled Python more after ML/Lisp/etc.
>do you honestly think python, as a programming language, is superior to something like racket or f#?
No, I think the subject is moot. Python has been adopted and is widely successful for being Python.
We had MLs and Schemes/Lisps available before and after Python and they didn't manage to get traction. Why do you think having the original Python be more like these would help its case?
Even if the result was a "better language" in the sense you think Racket or F# are, those are still niche, and there's all the reasons to believe Python would be too if it followed their model.
So, it's not "if only Python was ML/Lisp like we would now have an equally successful but better Python!".
It's more likely "if Python was ML/Lisp it would still be niche today, and we wouldn't have a language with the characteristics that people love in Python and adopted it for, but yet another ML or Lisp version".
It's simple, it was added to counter-balance the smug ascertainment of Guido's ignorance, and the taken-for-granted assumption that we'd be so much better if he modeled Python more after ML/Lisp/etc.
>do you honestly think python, as a programming language, is superior to something like racket or f#?
No, I think the subject is moot. Python has been adopted and is widely successful for being Python.
We had MLs and Schemes/Lisps available before and after Python and they didn't manage to get traction. Why do you think having the original Python be more like these would help its case?
Even if the result was a "better language" in the sense you think Racket or F# are, those are still niche, and there's all the reasons to believe Python would be too if it followed their model.
So, it's not "if only Python was ML/Lisp like we would now have an equally successful but better Python!".
It's more likely "if Python was ML/Lisp it would still be niche today, and we wouldn't have a language with the characteristics that people love in Python and adopted it for, but yet another ML or Lisp version".