[Tutor] Hi

[Vick]

Hello

 

I've been using Python 27 on Windows for as long as I have used a computer
for intelligent purposes, viz. since 2000 I think, well the earlier versions
till the current version I'm using now. I used it primarily for mathematical
precision on numerical computations. I make my own codes. I'm fluent in it
and in VBA. I also use Mathematica (Home Edition) to compare. However as
Mathematica is largely symbolic, I prefer Python.

 

However I recently talked to a guy online and he told me the following,
which actually intrigued and surprised me:

 

"The vast majority of numerical codes in science, including positional
astronomy, are written in Fortran and C/C++.  If you wish to use these codes
in minority and less efficient languages such as Python and VBA, learning to
translate this code into those languages is a skill you will have to
acquire."

 

The "codes" in question are referring to a query I posed to him regarding
the GUST86 theory on the computational position of Uranus' natural
satellites authored by Laskar and Jacobson in 1987. The "code" is readily
downloadable in Fortran at the IMCCE ftp site.

 

But his statement is insinuating that Python is inferior to Fortran as a
mathematical tool and that all of the scientific community prefers to use
Fortran.

 

My question is simple: Is he right or wrong?

 

Thanks

Vick