"[...] about itertools -- I guess I got the impression that itertools is deprecated in 3.0, or at least that Guido doesn't much like it, so I have stayed away from it. And itertools.combinations is only in 2.6, so I think I will leave things as is, for those still stuck in 2.5."
Combinations is also in +3.0. Otherwise a valid concern. (Been burned by that one myself.)
I can't find the source, but there might be some confusion between map/filter/reduce and itertools. Guido does not like map/filter/reduce and wants to get rid of them.
Itertools is a huge part of Python 3.0. Everything is an iterator in the language. And the docs underwent a major rewrite with the 3.0 release. It is not going to be deprecated.
"[...] about itertools -- I guess I got the impression that itertools is deprecated in 3.0, or at least that Guido doesn't much like it, so I have stayed away from it. And itertools.combinations is only in 2.6, so I think I will leave things as is, for those still stuck in 2.5."