Just read
Invasion Of The Dynamic Language Weenies it seems that what goes around, comes around, in that here we have a Java programmer de
crying an article on dynamic languages, when years earlier I could read similar articles from C++ adherents about this new Java thing from Sun. java must be cool. Java had its culture. Interminable articles on run-anywhere code and late night drinking (of high strength coffee).
Excuse me while I fetch a lemon - some crocodile tears are called for. ;-)
"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again".
Robert Jordan - "The Wheel of Time".
Now why on Earth would you choose an interpreted language, both generally and specifically notorious for poor performance, to perform a processing intensive task such as this? And why introduce a new language into a project that future maintainers will have to know?
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly the kind of things that C++ advocates said about Java in the past!
And before that, C++ was the new kid on the block. Quit programming in C. Everything needs objects. C++ is C plus objects it just has to be 'the one'.
ReplyDeleteMind-you, someday Python will go up against a language built around a 'new' paradigm. It will be Dynamic language plus add-in library, versus new-language with in-built paradigm support.
"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again".
Robert Jordan - "The Wheel of Time".
I wont claim that any language will last forever, paddy3118, but Python has a better chance of adapting to changing needs, environments, and paradigm than languages before it. Can the cycle be broken? Maybe the python we write in ten years wont be the python we write today, but the language will actually be able to move forward, not stand still like those before it.
ReplyDeleteSeems to be a pretty well written article, I enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this quote resonated with me quite well:
"For my part, I've long recognized that the weakest link in the development chain is not the tools I'm using, but myself. Compared to the cost of my own mistakes, the cost of the tools I use must be trivial, given that I spend most of my average working day catching problems of my own creation. How did those bugs get there? Sadly, I put them there. I'd be surprised if the experience is much different for other developers, if they're honest with themselves. This knowledge guides my choice of tools. I want tools that are going to be most effective at finding the mistakes I make. Therefore I prefer a statically typed language, because I've found that compiler warnings about type mismatches are generally a sign that I've made some programmatic or conceptual error. I haven't written what I intended to."