Python from Wise Guy's Viewpoint

[Espen Vestre]

Joachim Durchholz <joachim.durchholz at web.de> writes:

> Anyway, I lost interest in CLOS when I saw those clumsy BEFORE and AFTER
> keywords, and that priorization machinery for multimethods. Too
> complicated, too liberal (allowing lots of powerful things and lots of
> subtle bugs).

If you come to such a decision without even trying it out, it doesn't
mean CLOS has a problem, but rather that you have an attitude problem. 

Multimethods and before/after/around-methods are among the things
that make me really happy as a lisp programmer, and with them I've
done things to systems - with a few lines of code - that would have
required a complete rewrite with more limited languages.

> unsafe-but-powerful stuff. In my eyes, Lisp is a valuable
> experimentation lab for new language mechanisms, but not fit for
> production use.

Hmm. I wonder why my CLOS-infested server software keep running for
MONTHS? 

> In other words: Lisp is too powerful and dangerous, C++ is too tricky, C
> is too low-level, Java is too slow (even when compiled) and slightly too
> restricted, [add your favourite language and its deficits here] - choose
> your evil...

But of all evils, Common Lisp is the least, since it gives you the
most reliable code (yes it DOES!), gives good programmmers the
opportunity to write wonderfully readable code, is wonderfully
expressive and is Great Fun to work with.

-- 
  (espen)