Python in the future

[Will Ware]

arkconfused at hotmail.com wrote:
> Sorry for being rude or an A$$, but the question of where computer
> technology will be in the next 5-10 years is crazy!  And the comment
> that Python will be a string presence

I must disagree. Python will be a float presence, I think, or possibly
a list-of-dictionaries presence. Sorry, it was too tempting.

> if you have learned from
> historical events, things like BETA, Mac, and Python have and will
> disappear.  ... I see Python being the BETA,
> and Perl being the VHS...

Programming languages address nearly-eternal human concerns, and this
accounts for their staying power. The history of libraries goes back
almost as far as the history of writing.  Ancient civilizations like
the Phonecians (sp?) and Babylonians had records relating to trade,
real estate, the disposition of estates of the deceased, shipping
manifests, as well as textbooks and fictional works. Towns larger than
two or three family farms cannot exist without computation, via abacus
or paper and pencil or stylus and clay tablet. Today we're lucky to have
desktops with web access.

A new programming language involves an investment of mental energy by
many thousands of people. People have big flame wars over the relative
merits of languages; language camps become firmly entrenched. When
language implementations are open-sourced, it means that no matter what
happens in the commercial world, any sufficiently dedicated programmer
can keep using the language. I myself have several CDR disks with
py152.tgz on them, just in case the economy collapses and the web stops
working.
-- 
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Resistance is futile. Capacitance is efficacious.
Will Ware	email:    wware @ world.std.com