Comparison between Python and "Ruby"

[Gordon McMillan]

Yukihiro Matsumoto wrote:

> "Fredrik Lundh" <fredrik at pythonware.com> writes:
> 
> |> I guess he loves reducing variablity, if possible, which is
> totally |> against TMTOWTDI.  I don't judge whether it is good or
> bad. | |you're confusing syntax with semantics.
> 
> I don't think so.  I don't believe anyone can reduce semantic
> variability.  Thus TMTOWTDI applies to semantics AND syntax.

Did you mean to write what you wrote? From your premise, I 
would reach the opposite conclusion. Or are you saying that 
Guido also failed to reduce syntactic variability?

The problem with TMTOWTDI as used by Perlers is that they 
assume that because it is rare in Python for a given syntactic 
element to have an alternate form, that all successful attempts 
to solve a problem will have the same form.

A few years ago there were 19 different solutions posted to the 
problem of removing duplicates from a list, employing at least 
a half dozen distinctly different algorithms.
 
The same contest on c.l.pl.* might yield hundreds of 
solutions, but I doubt that the underlying algorithms would 
expand beyond that half dozen.

So I'd tend to agree with "I don't believe anyone can reduce 
semantic variability", but I would conclude that there's no 
connection between the syntactic and semantic levels.

> But it's OK.  I'm not Larry Wall nor Perl freak.
> 
> I just felt weird when Pythoneers say about TMTOWTDI or even
> TMTOWTHMTOWTDI. 
>       matz.
> 
> -- 
> http://www.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list



- Gordon