Python vs. C++ Builder - speed of development

[Laura Creighton]

> Laura Creighton <lac at strakt.com> wrote in message news:<mailman.1043800733.19
> 006.python-list at python.org>...
>  
> > When I was working for the Canadian military, we got people working
> > on problems and then stuck them in machines which measured blood flow
> > in different regions of the brain.  Neither python nor C++ were
> > invented then, but C and Lisp were.
> > 
> > Statistically, C problem solvers were way more active in the
> > language-processing-and symbol-manipulation areas of the brain then
> > they were in the parts of the brain associated with imagery, drawing,
> > and conceptualising.  Lisp problem solvers were more balanced.
> 
> As I recall, the rule of thumb is that equalizing blood flow 
> is a good thing.
> 
> But I wonder where you found all those people who could comfortably 
> program in both Lisp and C. If the subjects weren't at least bilingual 
> in coding, wouldn't you'd be potentially obscuring the data with 
> self-selection issues? That is, inadvertently selecting programmer 
> subjects whose problem set preferences led to their preference for 
> C, say, and measuring a given blood flow difference because that 
> was just the way a subject used the brain in programming in general.

Indeed.  But it was also working with people who had never programmed
in any language before.  This is the nice thing about having a group
of soldiers around.  You can order them to do things they wouldn't do
on their own and see how they do it.  But the methodological problems
still abounded.

Once we apparantly found a difference between French Canadian thinking
and English Canadian thinking, when it came to thinking about parsing.
But I always had a deep suspicion that all we were finding out was
that there was one wonderful course in parsing taught at the
University of Montreal.

> 
> This reminds of the anecdotal correspondence of programming with 
> musicians. Ah, so many variables, so little time...

Alas.  I hope the Buddhists and Hindus are correct.  One lifetime isn't
enough.

> 
> Tyler
> -- 
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list

Laura