If Scheme is so good why MIT drops it?

[Raffael Cavallaro]

On 2009-07-26 09:16:39 -0400, aahz at pythoncraft.com (Aahz) said:

> There are plenty of expert C++
> programmers who switched to Python;

"plenty" is an absolute term, not a relative term. I sincerely doubt 
that the majority of python users were formerly *expert* C++ 
programmers.

> your thesis only applies to the
> legions of people who found it difficult to learn C++ in the first place.

No, my thesis applies to the overwhelming majority of programmers who 
found it more difficult to *master* (i.e., not merely use) C++ as 
opposed to mastering python. BTW, this is a *complement* not a dis; 
python is a better language than C++ precisely because it is more 
sensibly and elegantly designed than C++ and therefore easier to master.

php represents the same process but farther down the ladder, as it 
were. There's often a tradeoff between ease of mastery and power. 
python hits a sweet spot for many tasks and many programmers, 
especially as compared to C++ (or even lisp, which though more powerful 
than python is more difficult to master. lisp beats C++ on both counts 
imho - more powerful *and* easier to master). php hits a sweet spot 
only in a very restricted domain. Beyond that, it is clearly inferior 
to python which has greater power, but is more difficult to master.


-- 
Raffael Cavallaro