Comment by jbotz

Yes, but on all reasonably recent distros (including all current "LTS" releases) just `python` will also get you python 3.x. If there is still a python 2.x on your system you'll have to type `python2` to get it. So it is up to the user... to upgrade their system. You really don't want to work on a system that's so outdated that `python` is still python 2.x.