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I hated C++ and Matlab as an undergraduate. Hell, I hated programming as a whole - and effectively swear never to write a line of code once I was done with my B

I hated C++ and Matlab as an undergraduate. Hell, I hated programming as a whole - and effectively swear never to write a line of code once I was done with my BSc in Physics. Then, at work, I was introduced to Python. It was so...obvious, for lack of a better world. It was like a language I always knew that never spoke before. I'm now a software engineer, write Python almost all day, and looking back to the 18-year old version of myself, I would only say "if only you knew". That, and more, is what people like Guido and those who followed his path enable people like me to do: enjoy the art of programming. Thanks Guido, and enjoy your well-deserved retirement.

aerovistae 7y ago
> It was like a language I always knew that I never spoke before. God that's well put
- wil421 7y ago
  Agreed. Learning Python for side projects and hobby stuff. The zen is real. It’s making me dislike writing JavaScript at my day job.
  - icemelt8 7y ago
    I am the opposite, I don't like Python but I love JS.
marcosdumay 7y ago
> obvious Yes, coming from Perl that was a huge hit.
b0rsuk 7y ago
On the upside, it gave you motivation to double down on Python to make up for the lost time.
xtracto 7y ago
Interesting. I myself come form an Software Engineering background, and started programming very young in Logo (a LISP derivate), then BASIC, C, C++, Java, Ruby and a bunch of others. I have hated programming in Python every time I have had to do it (several times through my career). It I think the only language that I have really hated ... the language itself. I've done Z80 and 8086 assembly, I've done Prolog, I've done Pascal, VB, VB.net, C#, R, Matlab, JavaScript, ActionScript and even Z (formal language) but no other language has made me swear at it haha.
- Skunkleton 7y ago
  I'm not sure how you can be annoyed by Python, but not by VB.
  - xtracto 7y ago
    > I'm not sure how you can be annoyed by Python, but not by VB. I think it might be that back when I worked with it I was young and did not know better. Nowadays I assume that if someone put me to do something in VB6 it will be super painful.
- tahdig 7y ago
  I think it is about the thinking process of the person, I assume you are >35, you grew up at a time that people were think about the performance more than the readability, that was the bottleneck back then. Now that you have bigger systems and more complex requirements and cheap high performance computing, the balance is tipped. And because python is (almost) on the opposite side of the spectrum for your thinking process, you might have a harder time wrapping your head around why it does something in a particular way. I think this is also true for Haskell evangelists over here also, I think they started acquiring the programming mindset through advanced math(in my experience most have PhDs) etc., so haskell fits the way they solve a problem in their head the best. For me personally it is Python, the delay between solving a problem and having it translated to python in my head is slim. You probably feel the same way about your own favourite programming language, because it is the tool that makes you most productive with the least effort.
shrimp_emoji 7y ago
Have you tried Ruby? It's the most "what you describe" language I've used. I don't use it because Python's more popular and I'm a slave to fashion and critical mass, but it's so much more easy and expressive than even Python's syntax. for i in 0..5 I can't believe Python didn't adopt that syntax, which comes from Bash... I surmise it didn't because Python is actually something of the philosophical opposite of Ruby. In Python, there is one way to do things. You use the range() call, so we only use the range() call. In Ruby, the same thing can be done in many different ways. More expressive although a little wild.
- hexane360 7y ago
  There's plenty of ways to do most things in Python. That's one of its strengths as much as anything, despite what the Zen says. Also, I hate how discussions like this seem to always turn towards small syntactic differences rather than actual differences in functionality.
- mixmastamyk 7y ago
  What do you do when you need to change the step? Unique syntax can fall down where a generic function call would handle it.

aerovistae 7y ago

> It was like a language I always knew that I never spoke before. God that's well put

wil421 7y ago
Agreed. Learning Python for side projects and hobby stuff. The zen is real. It’s making me dislike writing JavaScript at my day job.
- icemelt8 7y ago
  I am the opposite, I don't like Python but I love JS.

marcosdumay 7y ago

> obvious Yes, coming from Perl that was a huge hit.

b0rsuk 7y ago

On the upside, it gave you motivation to double down on Python to make up for the lost time.

xtracto 7y ago

Interesting. I myself come form an Software Engineering background, and started programming very young in Logo (a LISP derivate), then BASIC, C, C++, Java, Ruby and a bunch of others. I have hated programming in Python every time I have had to do it (several times through my career). It I think the only language that I have really hated ... the language itself. I've done Z80 and 8086 assembly, I've done Prolog, I've done Pascal, VB, VB.net, C#, R, Matlab, JavaScript, ActionScript and even Z (formal language) but no other language has made me swear at it haha.

Skunkleton 7y ago
I'm not sure how you can be annoyed by Python, but not by VB.
- xtracto 7y ago
  > I'm not sure how you can be annoyed by Python, but not by VB. I think it might be that back when I worked with it I was young and did not know better. Nowadays I assume that if someone put me to do something in VB6 it will be super painful.
tahdig 7y ago
I think it is about the thinking process of the person, I assume you are >35, you grew up at a time that people were think about the performance more than the readability, that was the bottleneck back then. Now that you have bigger systems and more complex requirements and cheap high performance computing, the balance is tipped. And because python is (almost) on the opposite side of the spectrum for your thinking process, you might have a harder time wrapping your head around why it does something in a particular way. I think this is also true for Haskell evangelists over here also, I think they started acquiring the programming mindset through advanced math(in my experience most have PhDs) etc., so haskell fits the way they solve a problem in their head the best. For me personally it is Python, the delay between solving a problem and having it translated to python in my head is slim. You probably feel the same way about your own favourite programming language, because it is the tool that makes you most productive with the least effort.

shrimp_emoji 7y ago

Have you tried Ruby? It's the most "what you describe" language I've used. I don't use it because Python's more popular and I'm a slave to fashion and critical mass, but it's so much more easy and expressive than even Python's syntax. for i in 0..5 I can't believe Python didn't adopt that syntax, which comes from Bash... I surmise it didn't because Python is actually something of the philosophical opposite of Ruby. In Python, there is one way to do things. You use the range() call, so we only use the range() call. In Ruby, the same thing can be done in many different ways. More expressive although a little wild.

hexane360 7y ago
There's plenty of ways to do most things in Python. That's one of its strengths as much as anything, despite what the Zen says. Also, I hate how discussions like this seem to always turn towards small syntactic differences rather than actual differences in functionality.
mixmastamyk 7y ago
What do you do when you need to change the step? Unique syntax can fall down where a generic function call would handle it.