Python Is Eating the World

Post by astonex » Mon, Aug 12, 2019, 3:44 AM UTC

blaisio wrote: post #33

Python has a lot of problems that really slow down development, but they are all fixable. The biggest issue, in my opinion, is in dependency management. Python has a horrible dependency management system, from top-to-bottom. Why do I need to make a "virtual environment" to have separate dependencies, and then source it my shell? Why do I need to manually add version numbers to a file? Why isn't there any builtin way…

Post by zys5945 » Mon, Aug 12, 2019, 3:47 AM UTC

astonex wrote: post #42

blaisio wrote: post #33

Python has a lot of problems that really slow down development, but they are all fixable. The biggest issue, in my opinion, is in dependency management. Python has a horrible dependency management system, from top-to-bottom. Why do I need to make a "virtual environment" to have separate dependencies, and then source it my shell? Why do I need to manually add version numbers to a file? Why isn't there any builtin way…

>Most people just cross their fingers and hope dependencies don't change Is there anything wrong with pip freeze > requirements.txt and then pip install -r requirements.txt ? This would install the exact versions

Post by voodoochicken » Mon, Aug 12, 2019, 3:53 AM UTC

zys5945 wrote: post #44

astonex wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Most people just cross their fingers and hope dependencies don't change Is there anything wrong with pip freeze > requirements.txt and then pip install -r requirements.txt ? This would install the exact versions

I think he is referring to indirect dependencies

Post by WoodenChair » Mon, Aug 12, 2019, 3:54 AM UTC

geofft wrote: post #14

umvi wrote: post #4

If only its package management were as easy as its syntax... I wish pip worked the same way as npm: -g flag installs it globally, otherwise it creates a local "python_modules" folder I can delete at any time. And optionally I can save the dependency versioning info to some package.json... Instead, pip is a nightmarish experience where it fails half the time and I have no idea where anything is being installed to and…

Here's a simple but less-than-completely-documented way to keep Python package management under control: 1. Don't install anything globally. Don't pip install --user, definitely don't sudo pip install. 2. For each project you want to work on, create a venv. Yes, there are tools for this, but the base venv tool is totally fine. (venv should be included in your Python, but a few distributors like Debian put it in a sep…

Post by jahewson » Mon, Aug 12, 2019, 3:55 AM UTC

_delirium wrote: post #32

pbreit wrote: post #12

Considering Python can power the largest web sites (Netflix, Instagram), I don’t understand why there’s so much use of much more complicated platform/languages (eg java, .net)? Note: I am an amateur which is likely the reason for my ignorance.

A lot of stuff powered "by Python" is in practice powered by multi-language infrastructures, which can be pretty complex. For example, the Python ecosystem for data science is mostly implemented under the hood in a mix of C, C++, and Fortran, with high-level Python bindings, due to a mixture of legacy reasons and pure Python being too slow. Obviously lots of people still like the end result, but saying this kind of s…