[phawkins at connact.com: Re: python and applications]

[Gustavo Vieira Goncalves Coelho Rios]

>ts> could you write a fast mud  in python? 
>ts> having a lot of monsters like dikumuds do?
>ts> how many blind programmers use python? and is python just a toy language?
>ts> can it do more or as much as c? could you create a roguelike in it?
>ts> I am blind myself.

I am just a python beginner, but clearly C would cannot do many thing in python the same way you cannot do many thing in C!

C is simple, and very, very small. Everything you need come form libraries. C has no support for IO, garbage collections, dynamic memory allocation, etc...... Many thing that C "does" comes from external libraries. Being small, and without any kind of special structs gives C some nice features like: small learning curve, code are easy to mantain , you can write very fast code in C, easy to program. The most sofistaced feature C provides is loop (while, do while, for), the lowest level C feature are pointer. If you master pointer and loop in C, you may be concidered a C guru. the problem is that C by itself is useless. Writting really useful programms required you to master the OS API, or even your hardware.

Just to take a notion about what i say:
Get two book: Brian Kernigham: The C Programming Language and give it to one who have never program in C. Get too Bjearne Stroustp C++ one, give it to another one. Come back two months later and take a look at who of that guys will be more satisfied ? C++ is a hell of complicated. People are used to think that C++ is easier than C - All i do is laughting. Serious IT stuff never get project developed in C++.

Python is much more elaborated than C. It supports complex data types (from the point of view of a C programmer), and operation on such Data Types. This may be a problem. this approach makes constant motivation for the language release (C has only two: standard and ANSI - ISO/IEC 9899:1989, i guess). Any way i am just beginning python and i am loving it. Python is beautiful, elegant, nice and considering script world is fast enough, even for more complicated task. Despite of my impression about python, i am sure i would never use it to write a, say, high performance ftp server and alike.
Python folks made something i am realy enjoyng: they made a language as simple as C with add-on o C++, but of course without all that stupid complexity C++ bring to your brain.

BTW: as i told, i am just python beginner, sorry if something i told about python is misleading..

best regards.


-- 
Old age is the most unexpected of things that can happen to a man.
		-- Trotsky