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I use python scripts these days but I don't think they're any better than bash or perl scripts. Just more popular these days.

• zmmmmm 7y ago
  The problem with python is even if you do it well, you don't get very far above a script. As oweiler above mentions, this is where languages with a bit more comprehensive support for true incremental typing, structuring etc. work better. It's definitely one of the things I like about Groovy - that it's both a better first line scripting language AND cuts it as a first class structured application development language on a par with Java etc - and you can do incremental shades of gray all the way in between. Of course, you have to actually DO it which is where the real trap is. But its definitely a level above Python where the friction of transitioning from "this is fine as an ad hoc script" to "This really ought to be a proper library / module in a statically typed language" is high enough that it will basically never happen.
  • xiphias2 7y ago
    I'm using Julia the same way for math computation: starting as a scripting language, but creating new types and adding typing information on the fly (start with a tuple, then create a struct if that tuple is useful multiple times).
  • dijksterhuis 7y ago
    The transition you mention for Python is actually not that high. Error handling, edge cases, unit tests, type checking, packaging can all be performed in Python. Type checks are the biggest bug bear. Otherwise, it’s relatively easy to get things clean and tidy (packaged).