Popular conceit about learning programming languages

[Pascal Costanza]

Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters wrote:
> Pascal Costanza <costanza at web.de> wrote previously:
> |I would like to know more specifically what features make Python
> |special to you. As Kenny put it, in what regards is Pythonthink
> |different from Otherlangthink?
> 
> I think studying the -Zen of Python- is an excellent start for an answer.
> And after that, it is an excellent intermediary.
> 
> One feature that is not directly a single one of the lines in -Zen- is
> the openness of Python.
[...]

> On the other hand, Python still maintains an obvious distinction (to
> keep my metaphor) between what is "in the scene" and what is behind it.
[...]

These things sound all very nice indeed. I have the gut feeling that 
Python could be an excellent surface language for Common Lisp. Like in: 
doing the easy and intermediary stuff in Python (on top of CL), and 
doing the really hairy stuff in CL.

(All the scripting languages I have seen so far rely on C for the hairy 
stuff - and I definitely don't like that. There should be some alternative.)


Pascal

P.S.: This is a very nice discussion and I have actually learned quite a 
bit from it. Furthermore, people seem to be very friendly here, and I 
appreciate that a lot.

-- 
Given any rule, however ‘fundamental’ or ‘necessary’ for science, there 
are always circumstances when it is advisable not only to ignore the 
rule, but to adopt its opposite. - Paul Feyerabend