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You don't seem to be getting it. Nearly every Python program is composed of about 99% C these days, especially because Python slants heavily towards data scienc

by jpgvm 5y ago

You don't seem to be getting it. Nearly every Python program is composed of about 99% C these days, especially because Python slants heavily towards data science now. pandas? numpy? tensorflow? pytorch? All native extensions. All the fast encoders/decoders for various file formats etc are all native extensions. Talk to message queue or anything else that requires fast I/O? Probably also C. Python itself is so slow that it's only really used as glue for these very fast libraries. So it's not about control it's about actually being able to understand the tools you are using. If you are using this stack but don't know C then you don't really understand the software you are using. Again, contrast to Java where as long as you know Java you can probably most libraries in common use with a few exceptions. The main exceptions are crypto, compression libs and stuff like Netty.

7thaccount 5y ago
Oh I get it and use those technologies often and so do many coworkers, but it is irrelevant to me what they're written in as they just work fine for 99.99% of users it would seem. When you say a Java programmer knows the entire system, where do you draw the line? The stack system of the JVM? The assembly I assume it later runs, the machine language? Honestly, unless you're running Forth on a very simple chip, I don't think you can possibly hold the entire system in your head at one time.
- jpgvm 5y ago
  I draw the line where it crosses into understanding a language other than the runtime language. You don't really need to understand anything more than pure Java to understand 99.99% of popular Java libraries (I already listed the exceptions). You don't even need to understand JVM bytecode (though that can really help for performance optimisation). You can't use almost any meaningful library without running into a C extension in Python-land and that is what I have a serious issue with. (same goes for Ruby and JS though I guess)

by jpgvm 5y ago

7thaccount 5y ago

Oh I get it and use those technologies often and so do many coworkers, but it is irrelevant to me what they're written in as they just work fine for 99.99% of users it would seem. When you say a Java programmer knows the entire system, where do you draw the line? The stack system of the JVM? The assembly I assume it later runs, the machine language? Honestly, unless you're running Forth on a very simple chip, I don't think you can possibly hold the entire system in your head at one time.

jpgvm 5y ago
I draw the line where it crosses into understanding a language other than the runtime language. You don't really need to understand anything more than pure Java to understand 99.99% of popular Java libraries (I already listed the exceptions). You don't even need to understand JVM bytecode (though that can really help for performance optimisation). You can't use almost any meaningful library without running into a C extension in Python-land and that is what I have a serious issue with. (same goes for Ruby and JS though I guess)