Thank you (was Re: Should I learn Python or Java?)

D-Man dsh8290 at rit.edu
Mon Jan 8 05:07:07 EST 2001


On Sun, Jan 07, 2001 at 10:21:26PM -0500, Peter Hansen wrote:
| D-Man wrote:
| > 
| > I am currently employed to do Java development.  (I'm a co-op, still
| > in college so if anyone knows of a company that does python
| > development, let me know)  
| 
| As someone who hires programmers, including co-ops, I would
| recommend you be careful focusing on companies who demand
| experience with specific languages.  Although some companies 
| hire people for their language-specific experience, in 
| cases of general-purpose programming this is misguided.
| (For things like DB work, SQL would of course be one
| requirement.)
| 
| My company now does a significant amount of Python development,
| but I would still not strongly favour a "Python developer"
| over a developer with a broad background in a variety of
| languages, at different levels and in different application
| areas.  The only thing 'Python' would do on a resume is 
| slightly increase the time I would spend looking at the 
| candidate (out of several hundred resumes I've seen in 
| the last six months only one included the word Python.)
| 
| Or perhaps you were just expressing a strong desire to 
| work for a progressive company that recognizes the benefits
| of Python and provides an opportunity for people to work
| with it.  I'd try the same thing in your shoes.  Another 
| thing I'd do, though, would be to learn Python well 
| enough and broadly enough to be able to find novel 
| and useful ways to apply it in _any_ company I worked
| for.  Given how easy it has been to demonstrate the
| advantages of Python over many alternatives, I would
| think you could successfully build yourself an opportunity
| to program in Python in your next company.
| 

This is what I would like.  I have experience with Eiffel, C, C++,
and Java and have done some work with Lisp, Scheme, and Perl (in
school) and learned Python on my own.  While I can use a variety of
languages, Python is my favorite.  (Unless I need to write a device
driver or something where C/C++ would fit much better ;-))

The company I am working for now uses Java for the SDK and runtime
library.  Part of the purpose of the product is to generate a Java
class that our customers can use to do screen scraping from Java
apps/applets.  Due to the nature of this product and its target
audience it is rather tied to Java.


-D





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