Why should I switch to Python?

[Lloyd Zusman]

François Pinard <pinard at iro.umontreal.ca> writes:

> "Chris Ryland" <cpr at emsoftware.com> writes:
> 
> > Oh, no, not another Perl vs. Python war! ;-)
> 
> That remembers me of a little story that made me smile, years ago.
> This was the comment of a discouraged nurse at a recruiting centre for
> the army, at the entrance of the medical examination room.  "I told
> them for _years_ to remove their shirt, and they still do not know
> they should."
> 
> There will be newcomers to Python all the time, [ ... ]
> [ ... ]
> You people received me with an exquisite
> politeness and patience, and my liking of Python deepened instantly as
> it got kind of fuzzily intermixed, in my fragile mind, with the
> feeling of good human values, as well.

I share your appreciation for the civility and humaneness here in
c.l.python, and I would also add that the lack of this is one of the
main reasons I stopped contributing to a certain other newsgroup that
used to be one of my main haunts for years.  There are literally
dozens of times when I saw newcomers to that newsgroup being treated
with a mind-set that matched that of the nurse in your little story
(and often much worse).

Your story is a gem and I wish I had known it back then, when I had
been trying many other ways to get through to the regulars in that
infamous other newsgroup.

> We should not see the potential for a war every time Perl is
> discussed, and be patient instead.  It looks all pretty bearable so
> far.  And if it was becoming too heavy, we could prepare pre-canned
> replies for the most questions, and even suggest a pointer to this FAQ
> right into the message footer generated for this list.  Welcoming
> people in person is better!

I agree.  The problem will be that once Python reaches a certain
critical mass of popularity, a steady stream of interested newcomers
will start showing up with these FAQ's.  It appears that Python is
nearing that critical mass, and I think that the ensuing influx of
newcomers might very well tax the patience of many of us.  This could
cause many of us to find ourselves temporarily suffering from the
dreaded malady called "ANFM" ("Anti-Newbie Flame Mode").  I would like
to nominate your wonderful little story about the nurse in the
recruiting station as the official Pythonic remedy and vaccine for
ANFM.

> François Pinard   http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~pinard

-- 
 Lloyd Zusman
 ljz at asfast.com