Beginning programming with Python

skaller skaller at maxtal.com.au
Thu Nov 18 18:32:21 EST 1999


Bill Anderson wrote:
> 
> Nemeth Miklos wrote:
> >
> > Janos Blazi wrote:
> >
> > > I have tried to use Perl in my teaching. It has a very powerful but alas!
> > > not very simple syntax! To start with, my pupils used to forget the dollar
> > > signs and Perl does not like that. So this year I shall use Python. We shall
> > > see. Time will tell, if Python is really better. Maybe my pupils will forget
> > > the indenting this time? There is actually nothing else you can forget in
> > > Python.
> >
> > I am quite new in Python programming, and I was a bit :-( by understanding that
> > Python does not have any (even optional) mechanism to enforce the usage of
> > predeclared variables and functions. The complete lack of compile-time
> > type-safety of Pythom may be a problem in large projects, which may be the most
> > serious technical (ie non-marketing) obstacle to Python's becoming a widespread
> > language like Java.
> > Let us see an example:
> > # Module t.py
> > def f():
> >   print "started"
> >   x = 128
> >   x.foo()
> >
> > Let us import it in the Python interpreter:
> > >>> import t
> > >>>
> > You can see thet the interpreter compiled t.py to t.pyc (or t.pyo) but found no
> > error.
> > All typos (typing errors of variable and function names) will be detected ONLY
> > at runtime! Python is perfect language to write programs fast, but with the
> > cost of hordes of testers.
> 
> Disagree. I write many things in python, fast, and without hordes of
> testers.
> 
> > However this may not be a big problem, because any
> > piece of software should be thoroughly tested, to make sure that there are no
> > semantic errors in the application. In the case of Python the applications
> > should also be tested for "syntactic" errors.
> 
> As should _any_ language.
> 
> > In Python (just like in Smalltalk or in Perl, or in Tcl) there are a lot of
> > things a programmer may forget.
[]

-- 
John Skaller, mailto:skaller at maxtal.com.au
10/1 Toxteth Rd Glebe NSW 2037 Australia
homepage: http://www.maxtal.com.au/~skaller
voice: 61-2-9660-0850




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