Re: [dev] What is bad with Python

From: FRIGN <dev_AT_frign.de>
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2014 07:49:07 +0100

On Tue, 4 Mar 2014 09:14:05 +0100
Silvan Jegen <s.jegen_AT_gmail.com> wrote:

> I have been using Python for a few years and never had any version
> management issues. I assume this was because I use it for simple
> scripting where mostly the standard library was needed which is
> actually an argument for the "batteries included" approach.

Well, I was using Python for years in environments like Blender and
often encountered those bloody version-issues when stumbling upon
useful scripts for both the Game Engine and my system in general.
Scavenging code is a PITA, writing it yourself is probably not.

The issue with only using a certain subset of a language has often been
discussed.

> I can't really talk about the implementation itself but the language
> is very expressive and tends to be easy to read as well. So I would
> say the language does a good job of making the more complex
> functionality available for when (if?) you need it while not
> sacrificing any readability.

Take my portage-example for software where this isn't the case. You can
write beautiful and readable code in any language. Python may encourage
this, but you might as well just learn it in the first place instead of
being forced to do it.

> My biggest gripe with the language is the absence of static type
> checking at compile time. I would not recommend Python to anyone
> wanting to write a non-trivial robust program. For simple scripting
> and (algorithm) prototyping it is fine (but slow, I hear).
> And there is the whole global interpreter lock mess of course...

Too few people realize how bloated Python-scripts are. I'd like to
encourage everyone to try out a Python->C compiler and see what it
spits out even for the most trivial program.
This may not be the most scientific approach, but it gives an
impression on what an interpreted language tends to consume.
In some cases, Python is up to 50% slower than well-written C, but to
be fair, it does the memory-management for you ;).

> In my opinion Go(lang) makes Python obsolete in almost all respects.

Yes, Go is a fine language (and compiled).

Cheers

FRIGN

-- 
FRIGN <dev_AT_frign.de>
Received on Tue Mar 04 2014 - 07:49:07 CET

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