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Python

2004-08-25 15:50:27.435376+00 by Dan Lyke 8 comments

I have been avoiding Python for a long time. Perl does much of what I want in a quick-and-dirty language better, the simple syntax bothered me, I thought that C++ was good enough for the non-scripting applications I've been playing with, things like that. But I've been talking with the ZVue folks, and one of 'em is a big Python fan, so I've picked up a copy of Mark Pilgrim's Dive Into Python. Yesterday I ended up bringing home a ZVue (and having played with that for 15 minutes, I now understand Adam Curry's iPodder and might even get vSpan), so I figured it was time to actually crack that book so that next time we talked I could come off as a little more intelligent.

I like it. True, it's got a lot of the issues of that certain sort of language that's simple at its core and depends a lot on a class library (like Java), but it doesn't require me to go lookup every single freakin' type I want to use (all of which have slightly different semantics, ahh the joys of C++), the language is expressive enough to have some pretty powerful idioms, there's wxWindows with wxGlade for creating GUI apps with native widget sets and py2exe for distributing a single bundle file to Windows[Wiki], it's slightly more strongly typed than Perl without being straitjacket-ish.

I don't think I'll be hitting it up for web apps soon, but there's a bunch of C++ source from the past two weeks that's about to get revamped.

[ related topics: Language Books Microsoft Perl Open Source Software Engineering Python ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2004-08-25 17:54:33.439478+00 by: Brian

Welcome to the party :)

#Comment Re: made: 2004-08-26 01:29:28.168606+00 by: dws

There are several good scripts to study on Mark Pilgrim's site. His site stats script is a good starting point, since you'll (probably) understand the domain.

http://www.diveintomark.org/projects/pysitestats/

Learning the unittest.py framework (the xUnit equivalent for Python) can pay off if you test your way into understanding Python).

#Comment Re: made: 2004-08-27 05:21:07.013061+00 by: Dan Lyke

Of course I'm a little concerned that the line

img = wx.BitmapFromImage(wx.ImageFromStream(open('...')))

can quickly suck up all of the CPU and a few hundred(!) meg of memory Admittedly, the file is a 7.6something meg digitization of a topo map, but my previous implementations (using GTK[Wiki] in Perl[Wiki] and C++) slapped this puppy in in a short enough time that I didn't notice it. Something tells me that maybe some of the image handling code should get converted to C...

#Comment Re: Java vs. Python vs. Perl vs. ?... made: 2004-08-27 18:32:40.024683+00 by: Michael R. Mayne

A few articles that touch on both Python and Perl (and others). Actually, all of the articles (Essays?) on his web site that I have read so far (four or five) seemed spot on. The first link is all about languages not being equal (and why). A short teaser from the first link (a must read):

----------------------------------------------------- "In the software business there is an ongoing struggle between the pointy-headed academics, and another equally formidable force, the pointy-haired bosses. Everyone knows who the pointy-haired boss is, right? I think most people in the technology world not only recognize this cartoon character, but know the actual person in their company that he is modelled upon.

The pointy-haired boss miraculously combines two qualities that are common by themselves, but rarely seen together: (a) he knows nothing whatsoever about technology, and (b) he has very strong opinions about it." -----------------------------------------------------

"Revenge of the Nerds"

http://www.paulgraham.com/icad.html

"The Python Paradox"

http://www.paulgraham.com/pypar.html

"Succinctness is Power"

http://www.paulgraham.com/power.html

-Invisible

#Comment Re: [Entry #7330] Re: Java vs. Python vs. Perl vs. ?... made: 2004-08-30 00:21:04.244414+00 by: Unknown, from NNTP

Michael R. Mayne <prefersanonymity_823@flutterby.com> writes:

> The pointy-haired boss miraculously combines two qualities that are
> common by themselves, but rarely seen together: (a) he knows nothing
> whatsoever about technology, and (b) he has very strong opinions
> about it."

That fact that Graham thinks that the combination of these two qualities is rare may be the most obvious indication of his "I will now simulate profundity by over-generalizing my personal experiences" issues.

#Comment Re: made: 2004-08-30 00:52:14.147841+00 by: Dan Lyke

It's an indication that he certainly never hung out with bicycling gear-heads or audiophiles... And I'd be so bold as to extrapolate my experience with those two groups out to others.

#Comment Re: made: 2004-08-30 14:20:40.12757+00 by: Shawn

In a fit of me too-ness, I'm going to say, "yeah, I was puzzled by that statement too."

#Comment Re: made: 2004-08-30 17:03:41.004176+00 by: Mark A. Hershberger

It looks like nothing more than a bit of rhetorical fluff to me.

I'm sure he's aware of all the studies that show that the less someone knows about something (and, as long as they have /some/ knowledge of it), the more adament they are with their opinions.