[Baypiggies] Java or Python?

[Rich Pixley]

I think it's similar.  The python community is small and esoteric by 
comparison to the corporate java world.

Java is the new cobol.  Most internal corporate apps, custom apps, etc, 
and many external apps are still being written in it.  It's no accident 
that the computer architecture that goes with java mirrors what went 
with cobol.  There will never be a dearth of jobs for people willing to 
write apps.

Personally, I think java's ok for a scripting language.  Much better 
than perl.  But lacks the functional programming aspects of python like 
first class aggregate data structures, iterators, etc.  (I really miss 
goal oriented expressions from icon, but iterators are an excellent 
substitute).  However, I don't think java makes for a very good general 
purpose or systems programming language.  C still holds the lead on that 
front and probably will forever, in much the same way that assembler is 
still used at the back end of compiler technology and inline in many os 
bits, device drivers, and low level library calls.  Eventually, our 
programming paradigms will change, (some may argue they already have), 
and we'll see other things take over.  But C and assembler will almost 
certainly outlive each of us.

If your primary or only goal is marketability, java's probably a better 
choice.

--rich