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Python causes me a great deal of suffering. This XKCD summarizes one reason why. https://xkcd.com/1987/ https://xkcd.com/1987/ Python deployment is an absolute
by forrestthewoods 5y ago
Python causes me a great deal of suffering. This XKCD summarizes one reason why. https://xkcd.com/1987/ https://xkcd.com/1987/
Python deployment is an absolute nightmare. And don’t you dare say “just use conda”.
Python the language isn’t particularly great. The built-in libraries are a mixed bag. (Filesys is awful). But everyone is forced to use Python because numpy is super powerful and all the ML frameworks are in Python.
The fact that GIL is still an issue in 2021 is a god damn travesty. As is the overall awful performance of Python.
The language definitely got something right. But I can’t decide how much of its success is good ideas vs pure inertia.
- plafl 5y agoPython definitely started with very good ideas and whatever success it has achieved is by merit and not marketing power or reputation of a company behind. Clean syntax, a decent object model, good documentation. Good taste in general. But it's older than Java, think about that. Has it aged worse than other languages? Are Python libraries worse than Java's? Package management? Has Python more cruft? Is it harder to install? At this point it's part inertia and network effects, although you should check the alternatives in ML: R, SAS, Matlab... I think Julia is better, but it has made some decisions not everyone likes. Static typing for ML, you may think, that would be awesome. Well, I think the language that got closest to it was Scala but it never escaped Spark.