Python or Java or maybe PHP?

Alex Martelli aleax at mail.comcast.net
Mon Jan 2 15:46:14 EST 2006


Cameron Laird <claird at lairds.us> wrote:
   ...
> "c = d unless ...":  it's possible to distinguish Python from
> Ruby in another way.  Python is arguably better for group work,
> or at least more standard for team projects, because it more
> consistently exposes "one correct solution", while Ruby both 
> admits more stylistic variation, *and* encourages construction
> of novel control structures.

Arguably, yes; but in the end any team (or firm working as a set of
fluid teams) that really wants such uniformity (and, it _should_;-),
can't rely on just the language, but must supplement it with an internal
"coding style" guide.  It will supplement Python's rules by (say) PEP 8
and more rigid choices about capitalization of names (such guidance
about capitalization IS embedded in Ruby, btw -- one aspect where Ruby
promotes uniformity more than Python does); it will supplement Ruby's
rules by similar sets of style constraints.  You can construct novel
control structures with Python's generators (particularly in 2.5, with
the already-accepted enrichments of generator functionality) just as you
can in Ruby by passing blocks to methods; whether you DO so on a routine
basis (rather than, say, in a few specific "common modules" that are
collectively accepted and maintained by the whole team or firm) does not
depend so much on the language, as on the team's/firm's central
collective coordination.  (Much the same, in spades, could be said of
macros in Common Lisp, of course).

Yes, Python has a cultural, community value of "uniformity" -- that may
make it easier to convince Python enthusiasts of the need to agree
collectively on strict coding-style standards, compared to doing the
same convincing on enthusiasts of languages whose cultural values
include enthusiastic, exhuberant acceptance of individual variation.
But I do not think that such "cultural and philosophical differences" as
they apply to a whole community are more than a secondary factor in
determining the culture and philosophy of a specific team, or firm...


Alex



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