On 9/12/06, Joshua Zucker <joshua.zucker@gmail.com> wrote:
I think the point is that a C programmer can start writing C++ programs without having to change anything -- legal C programs will still run just fine in C++. Then the C programmer can gradually learn whatever parts of the extensions of C++ at whatever rate, and slowly evolve into a C++ programmer.
--Joshua Zucker
For me it's less a question of what runs what in purely syntactical terms -- if A++ runs A unchanged, then I'd tend to call A++ an "extended version" of A i.e. A++ is the "full language" with A a kernel, core or subset thereof -- and more a question of learning curves. What's a realistic transition? How might we recruit to our language and not loose too many, even the ready and willing, over some cliff? Python is more a cosmopolitan meeting ground of friendly ideas from several good languages (albiet some of them obscure) than it is remote or alien, like J is, or M. Python feels friendly, not intimidating. That's not just because it's agile, although that's a big part of it. I talk about this in my presentation to the London Knowledge Lab earlier this year -- about how I "feel like a genius" when I get my J stuff working, yet I'm suspicious of that. I prefer "an ordinary experience" most of the time, and I get that in Python. http://bfi.org/pythonicmathematics One cool part about all this is I'm *not* required to "abandon J" just because I like Python or vice versa. When it comes to computer languages, I don't believe in monogamy. Don't get married to Python, just hook up. We'll gladly share you with another. Kirby