[Python-Dev] Examples for PEP 572

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Tue, Jul 03, 2018 at 03:24:09PM -0700, Chris Barker via Python-Dev wrote:

> Over the years I've been using it (most of its life), Python has evolved to
> become much less of a "scripting" language, and much more of a "systems"
> language, and this addition is a (pretty significant) step more in that
> direction.

As I understand it, the most commonly accepted definitions are:

Systems language:
    low-level languages designed to compile down to efficient
    machine code, suitable for writing operating systems,
    device drivers, and code for embedded systems.


Application language:
    high-level language intended to insulate the programmer
    from the gory details of memory management, suitable for
    writing user-space applications.


Scripting language:
    any interpreted high-level language the speaker doesn't
    like *wink*

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_programming_language

See also Ousterhout's (false) dichotomy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ousterhout's_dichotomy

Python is certainly not a systems language in the sense of C, Ada or 
Rust. It could be classified as an application language, like Java. And 
it still remains an awesome glue language for C and Fortran code.




-- 
Steve