What does Python fix?

[Tim Lavoie]

In article <3du1tkj3qz.fsf at ute.mems-exchange.org>, Andrew Kuchling wrote:
> aahz at panix.com (Aahz Maruch) writes:
>> The "intolerant" clause I get, but not "too conservative"; Lisp is one
>> of the oldest computer languages.
> 
> Yeah, but most programmers these days will have cut their teeth in a C
> or C-derived environment, such as Unix or Windows, and therefore
> expect a C-like syntax.  Lisp has seniority, but I doubt most people
> come in contact with it, especially for real programs as opposed to
> trivial factorial-computing examples.  (Getting my CS degree at
> McGill, I used Scheme in only one course; everything else was Pascal
> or C.  Plus a class project that was a Python extension...)

Having started off with 8-bit micros and TRS-80 or Commodore BASIC, I
should be stuck in VB-land. Fortunately, that is not the case.

I suspect that people tend to react one of two ways to exposure to new
ideas, programming languages and so on. Some go, "OK, this is what I
know now, so everything will now fit this mold." Given a large enough
hammer, even square pegs will become round, elegance be damned. Others
react with, "OK, that is neat, I can use that too. Eureka!"

You either want to explore, or you don't. I started off my CS course
already knowing BASIC, Pascal, and a decent smattering of C. I got
waaay too much additional Pascal used as the Bondage and Discipline
teaching language, some more C, APL, PL/1, Perl (work-term), and wee
bits of Prolog and Lisp. It's only after my degree that I had the time
to dig around and play with Java, Python, PostScript, more Lisp......

There is plenty to learn from all these sources, and many more. I
can't reasonably expect senior management to explore these wonders for
me, never mind recommend their use; it's up to me to find what
resonates, then convince them that this new wrench is something they
should invest my paid time into. So, I can deal with "weird"
indentation or parentheses as delimiters, if it helps me to understand
or fix a problem. People on this list may not appreciate Lisp, but
most could do much worse than to learn what it has to offer, even if
they don't end up using it. Ditto for the rest.

     Tim


-- 
"Now let us peel back the foreskin of misconception and apply
the wire brush of enlightenment" -- Geoff Miller