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I had to learn Fortran IV for my first job. Am I allowed to hate Python? Are you assuming everyone complaining here is young, and this is their first language
by ken 7y ago
I had to learn Fortran IV for my first job. Am I allowed to hate Python?
Are you assuming everyone complaining here is young, and this is their first language? Consider that maybe they're complaining because they've used older languages they liked more.
Often, not having a feature is preferable to having a feature designed or implemented poorly.
- Ensorceled 7y agoSure! I dislike all sorts of languages and environments. That wasn't my point. My point is if you had to write Fortran IV using an IBM 32xx terminal you wouldn't be quite so hyperbolic about modern Python. Unless you are claiming you would rather return to writing Fortran IV than use Python because you like Fortran IV better, in which case I'm very confused.
- xajK1 7y agoWhat does all this have to do with Fortran, terminals, or weaving your own core memory? Python's competitors are Lisp, OCaml, Swift, C# etc. I prefer at least Lisp and OCaml.
- ghc 7y agoPython's actual competitors are Ruby, Perl, R, Shell, Visual Basic, Javascript, PHP, and Matlab. Nobody's going to bother out OCaml or Lisp for web development, data science, or OS scripting where Python is most often used.
- dentemple 7y agoWell, Facebook is trying to make OCaml happen for web development (ReasonML). Not sure if they're succeeding, though.
- dasmoth 7y agoClojure has got pretty nice tools for web development (both backend and — with Clojurescript — frontend). It’s definitely out there in some places.
- seisvelas 7y agoPython and Lisps do directly compete as the preferred introductory language for university computer science classes.
- TylerE 7y agoIn this decade? Not even MIT teaches lisp anymore.
- flavio81 7y ago>Not even MIT teaches lisp anymore. That's their loss.
- seisvelas 7y agoYep. https://github.com/racket/racket/wiki/Courses-using-Racket https://github.com/racket/racket/wiki/Courses-using-Racket Lots of universities teach Scheme, particularly Racket. Although Python is more popular, even in that domain.
- axlprose 7y agoWell, the original context here was about comparing python to fortran, which also doesn't fit this "competitor" criteria. It's an apples to oranges comparison, sure, but that's the way this whole discussion started. At least Lisp is roughly the same age as fortran, which gets at the root assumption that python is an improvement over older languages.
- ImprovedSilence 7y agoJust because languages were more of a PITA in the past, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pick out faults of current languages and search for new/better solutions...
- squeaky-clean 7y agoThere's a difference between hating Python, and saying (I'm guessing is the comment that spurred this one) this: "I try to be a good sport about it, but every time I write python I want to quit software engineering.", like a top-level comment below says. If you had to write Python, would you also want to quit software engineering? Would you go back to Fortran instead of Python? Of course you're allowed to hate Python but someone saying "every time I write python I want to quit software" is either extreme hyperbole, some tangentially related issue like depression, or just no language at all would make them happy enough.
- TheRealKing 7y agoIn my opinion, as a computational researcher, Python was not really meant to be a Scientific Computing Programming environment. It was a big historical mistake to go in that direction. In the near future, hopefully, it will be replaced, by a better alternative. and believe me, for most people who do not speak highly of Fortran, when it comes to developing a new language for scientific computing, they pretty-much end up reinventing Fortran.