3 ms·
in terms of stability? really? I hear this a lot about Python. And I know a little bit about Python; I know less about ruby. But the thing of it is, from
by lsc 16y ago
in terms of stability? really?
I hear this a lot about Python. And I know a little bit about Python; I know less about ruby. But the thing of it is, from a SysAdmin perspective, Python is where Perl was in 2000. In 2000, you had differing versions of perl that were close enough to step on oneanother, but still so incompatible that you had to maintain one version of perl for your base OS tools, and usually another version of perl for every major application you used.
Perl has stabilized to the point where this is no longer a problem. I can run nearly everything on system perl without worrying about it. Python, on the other hand, I've had to wrangle with many RHEL systems that have two versions of python (one, because the RHEL base system requires a staggeringly ancient version of python, and then the other for the application the server was running.)
Python just isn't "done" in the way perl is. In five or ten years, sure. But for now, it's still a pain in the ass.
Hell, I'd bet money that at this point, perl5 has fewer memory leaks and other programming errors in the compiler than Ruby does, just because people have been pounding on it for so long.
- mfukar 16y agoI'm going to draw an analogy from Larry Wall's own words: Python 3 is to Python 2 what Perl 6 is to Perl 5, a different language. Just because you had a bad experience with Python legacy code (yes, RHEL sucks), doesn't mean you get to discredit the language. What is it about the language you find unfinished? I'd be 99% certain any issue you're going to mention is actively being worked on.
- berntb 16y agoInteresting... Are people using Python 3, now? (Hint: I don't think the grandfather comment was about Python 3.) And different languages doesn't say much. :-) Perl 6, compared to e.g. Python 2/3, is a really ambitious undertaking. But OK, with the backporting going on, Perl 5 might end up being similar to Perl 6... :-)
- skybrian 16y agoI'm sure some are, but it's not mainstream. For example, the Django team hasn't started porting to Python 3 yet. For now, you can ignore Python 3.
- sigzero 16y agoThat analogy is wrong. Python3 is not a different language. It is a cleanup of the Python2 language. Perl6 on the other hand is a total rewrite. The better analogy would be VB6/VB.NET and P5/P6.
- lsc 16y agoMy point was that even if the language is superior (maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. I'm not really qualified to debate the point) if the /platform/ is immature, that is still quite a disadvantage. Me, I'm not complaining about the large, predictable breakage you get when changing major versions, but the breakage that you got with minor versions of perl5 10 years ago, that you get with minor versions of python 2 today.
- skybrian 16y agoIt seems like formerly popular but effectively dead languages tend to be most popular with sysadmins. (It explains bash, sed, and awk, at least.) So I'm not sure that being popular with sysadmins is really what the folks who want to revive Perl are going for?