Python's popularity statistics

[Laura Creighton]

> 
> >               Okay, I'd also attribute that to the use of
> >XP and test-driven development, but Python plays a very key
> >role in our results. 
> 
> Read an article a ways back that basically said that if you're
> doing unit testing, many of the things people say they need
> static languages for are O.B.E.
> 
> C//
> 
> -- 
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list

Moreover, perform this experiment.  Get out your copy of 
_Design Patterns_ [Gof4].  The original, the C++ one.  (You
do have one, don't you.  You really need one.  You really,
really, need one even if you already know that programming in
C++ is one of those challenging difficult accomplishments you
will be perfectly happy to always leave for somebody else.
Trust me on this.)

Now go check the code.  Look at just _how much_ code in the patterns
is dedicated to 'getting around the C++ type system'.  Not just in
things like the Adapter Pattern -- in every Pattern in the book.  I'd
say about half of the code in the book is dedicated to this.

Now, ask yourself, do you have a personal deal cut with God so that
you don't get to make mistakes in the code that is non-essential to the 
Pattern, leaving only the Pattern part to get wrong like the rest of us 
programmers in a dynamic language, or would you be better off if half 
your code base went away?

Laura