Designing Large Systems with Python

[boud at rempt.xs4all.nl]

David Steuber <trashcan at david-steuber.com> wrote:
<snip>
: Meanwhile, languages like Ansi Common Lisp have had features that
: allow you to prototype and build a large system at the same time.
: That is, the specification of the system becomes the system.  People
: have done the same thing with Visual Basic, so I am told.
: 

Yes, they do. I should know - I'm working on a whopping great
big laboratory erp system built in Visual Basic. First there was
the prototype and it looked like a Windows program. Then there wasn't 
enough time to start again and discard the prototype, so the prototype
became the specification, and in time, the system. Then the project
was delayed by about a year. Then there were performance problems
caused by conceptual errors that had to be rectified by hacking around.
Then suddenly, the whole blasted !@#$%^&* was more than ten million
lines, more than hundred dll's, numerous OCX'es, and countless forms,
all built by twenty to thirty novices in the art of programming, of whom
fifteen had left the company. It's more than painful or embarrasing...
And it's not the first time I've seen that happen. Sorry for the rant -
I just had to get it of my chest. I don't think Python really insures 
you against these mistakes. 

: 
: One other thing.  Is the documentation that comes with Python
: sufficient to gain mastery of the language, or should I consider
: buying (yet) another book?
: 

I didn't find the online information quite enough - but the book
I got, Internet Programming with Python, isn't much better. It's a
bit too fond of telling me how not to do things, instead of how
things work. But that's just personal prejudice, and I think I just
should have bought Programming Python instead.
-- 

Boudewijn Rempt  | www.xs4all.nl/~bsarempt