Python Popularity: Questions and Comments

[Steve Holden]

<brueckd at tbye.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.1009474351.12838.python-list at python.org...
> On Thu, 27 Dec 2001, A. Keyton Weissinger wrote:
>
> > If it is as "X" as we all say/know/feel-in-our-hearts that it is, why is
> > there so very little real commercial appeal? Why are there not
industrial
> > strength application servers being based on Python? Why are there not
big
> > public companies trying to sell products that improve upon Python in all
its
> > Python-ness? Why is company X not moving all their dreck
VB/COBOL/PL/1/etc
> > code onto Python instead of investing the huge amount of
> > money/time/resources into moving it to Java?
>
> To me, the fact that so many people are moving to Java at all means that a
> lot of times those decisions have little to do with technology and lots to
> do with hype (more favorably termed "momentum"). IMO Python *is* going the
> direction you hope, and it is getting there at the right pace.
>
[ ... ]
Look at Unix, look at TCP/IP. Both fundamental technologies in supporting
today's computing environment, both approximating thirty years old, both not
really starting to achieve "market dominance" until they were twenty years
down their development tracks. It simply takes a long time for a technology
to mature to mass usability.

<dig>... and what do Microsoft have that's twenty years old and worth
keeping? ... </dig>

I personally think that Python will continue to rise in popularity, which is
why I chose to spend most of last year's spare time writing a book about it.
But we should also remember that no one language will ever edge all the
others out, and Python's *real* strength is its ability to integrate
smoothly into so many operating environments. Idealy it's cross-platform
interoperability we should be aiming at if we want Python to continue to
survive and grow.

regards
 Steve
--
http://www.holdenweb.com/