Python on riscos

[Mr J C Greenwood]

>   Paul Boddie <paul at boddie.net> wrote
>> Mr  J C Greenwood <jcg at argonet.co.uk> wrote
 
> > I have got a bit of an idea of what Python is about by looking at this
> > newsgroup for a few weeks, and am asking myself whether to get into it
> > more.

> Python's object-oriented features only add to the impression that BBC
> BASIC is quite a primitive language. It's rather unfortunate that many
> RISC OS developers have turned to C or (to a lesser extent) Perl
> because BBC BASIC never addressed the limitations described above. But
> unlike those languages, Python's clean syntax should appeal to you as
> an established BASIC developer, and you'll probably appreciate the
> interactive Python environment too.

At the moment I do not have any projects planned that require programming,
but I am toying with the idea of a skirmish into Python mainly to educate
myself as to _exactly_ what "object orientation" is. (A fetish? ;-)

> From what I've seen, the port to RISC OS seems rather well done; to
> have that work integrated into the standard distribution so quickly
> when other ports have taken a long time (Mac) or never even got that
> far (Amiga?), despite the sometimes bizarre nature of RISC OS, is a
> fine achievement in my opinion.
.....
> I'd say Python fully supports RISC OS now. You even get a low-level
> interface to the operating system!

Looking at available apps. written in Python, the weak link seems to be
that many of them need tk which it appears is not available on RISC OS.

> As this thread has illustrated, though, many packages may be difficult
> to port because of RISC OS limitations and not because people don't
> have the inclination. Motivation does play a part, though, but for
> many reasons: people like myself may have made good use out of Python
> many years ago on RISC OS - I tried to make C++ do what I wanted back
> in the early 90s, but implementations weren't really suitable - but
> now I have moved on and have no inclination to use RISC OS at all.

I think there are two distinct issues here: the platform and the task. To
do the best job on a given task one would choose the most appropriate
platform. I would prefer to use RISCOS because I find the GUI less
stressful, but it is no big deal to use a different computer.

The other issue is how much is the RISCOS platform worth supporting? I see
that there are new machines being introduced, Kinetic, Omega and Solo. The
last is particularly interesting, it is designed to run on 8.5W from a
solar panel, for use in under developed countries where there is no other
power. See www.explan.co.uk/hardware/solo.shtml

If this project comes off there could be a huge new user base for the
delights of Python. 

John

-- 
John Greenwood                            jcg at argonet.co.uk

Loughborough, in the middle of England