So be it. It is useful nevertheless.
Python is not a great programming language
11–20 of 156 posts
Re: Python is not a great programming language
#12I love Rob Pikes idea that is dumb to have scope determined by invisible characters
Python doesn’t really have scope in that way. Variables declared inside an if statement can be accessed outside of the if statement.
Re: Python is not a great programming language
#13> a big part of my frustration comes from having a JavaScript background
Yeah, I thought so when I was reading the list of "problems". In fact, many of those are features (e.g. lists & tuples being different, list comprehensions, lazy evaluation, distinction between maps/dicts and objects, ...) but the author doesn't actually understand them. I hate to sound so negative, I guess I just didn't realize how bad a programmer knowing (only/mainly) JavaScript causes you to be.
Re: Python is not a great programming language
#14These all just seem related to syntax, not actual program structure or capabilities. The only program structure thing I see is list comprehensions, which is one of Python's great strengths. Ironically they say Ruby is more pleasant to write, when Ruby has the deepest structural flaws of any dynamic programming language.
Re: Python is not a great programming language
#15Django is ok if you have a web site with content and forms that map nicely onto SQL tables. Any 1998 website, basically, with not too much of a load. Any other setup, and it gets messy. > Needing to put dict property names `{'in': 'quotes'}. Now that's a part I like.
The inclusion of that made me question the entire thing. It's just so...wrong.
Does the author not realize that you can use (almost) anything as a dict key?
a = 123
b = 'foo'
d = {a:456, b:123, 2.3:'2.3'}
print(d)
>>> {123: 456, 'foo': 123, 2.3: '2.3'}Re: Python is not a great programming language
#16Django is ok if you have a web site with content and forms that map nicely onto SQL tables. Any 1998 website, basically, with not too much of a load. Any other setup, and it gets messy. > Needing to put dict property names `{'in': 'quotes'}. Now that's a part I like.
Graphene + React is just fine.
Re: Python is not a great programming language
#17I think I agree. Here are a couple of more, from someone who has worked for years in a number of languages: - few limitations means you can easily make a serious mess, which means you are more dependent on good programmers to avoid the mess. - lack of typing information isn't "free solo" hard but it certainly makes life a lot less pleasant.
> lack of typing information isn't "free solo" hard but it certainly makes life a lot less pleasant. One of the projects I work on has switched to full type hinting along with heavy mypy¹ usage, and it has become an absolute pleasure to work with. Along with hypothesis², I can't recommend mypy enough. It must be said that retrofitting either to an existing project is a lot of work though. 1. http://www.mypy-lang.org/…
What I can't reconcile with myself is, if I'm going to add type hinting in Python, why not use a language where my efforts of adding type hints result in performance gains? I get why it's nice for a team, but it seems like a lot of work for half the potential benefit of a typed language.
Re: Python is not a great programming language
#18It doesn't matter about its quirks. The most important thing nowadays is that it's reached critical mass. We're at the point where even non-developers can now cobble together a bit of python code to do simple things to make their jobs easier. This means it's here forever, IMO.
Re: Python is not a great programming language
#19You can write your dicts as keyword args to the dict() cast if you don't like putting your keys in quotes, but it looks like shit.
There are two paths to take when one encounters something new; adapt and learn, or reject and mock. This sounds like the latter.
Re: Python is not a great programming language
#20I think the adage goes “Python is the best at being the second best at... almost everything”