Article of interest: Python pros/cons for the enterprise

[Jeff Schwab]

Paul Rubin wrote:
> Jeff Schwab <jeff at schwabcenter.com> writes:
>> So to use the Perl example: If you want to sort a list using some
>> arbitrary snippet of code as the comparison function, you can write:
>>      sort { code to compare $a and $b } @elements
> 
> Yes, you can do that in Python, using a lambda expression, a named
> function, or whatever.

You can indeed.  I think you can also use this to do the other stuff you 
would expect, e.g. return locally defined code snippets to define closures:

     def mkadder(n):
         return lambda x: x + n

I have gotten the impression that this was somehow inferior in Python 
though, at least in terms of performance.  Every time somebody uses 
lambda here, they seem to get a bunch "why are you using lambda?" 
responses.  If I am grossly mistake, please just enlighten me.


>> What language do you have in mind, in which lambda is more basic than
>> named definitions?  Are you coming from a functional language
>> background?
> 
> All languages that I know of with lambda, treat it as more basic than
> named definitions, e.g. the Lisp family (not sure if those count as
> functional languages) in addition to functional languages like Haskell.

I note from your other posts that you seem to have a strong Lisp bent. 
Lisp programmer and Smalltalk programmers stand out in the crowd.  I 
first noted this when somebody found a while-loop offensive, on the 
grounds that recursion was somehow a more natural way to implement 
looping.  It can take a while to convince somebody like that they 
different idioms work best in different languages.