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This is an accurate explanation. I started to teach myself Python just before 2000. The general consensus before then was that for a first language Perl or Py
by CTDOCodebases 3y ago
This is an accurate explanation.
I started to teach myself Python just before 2000.
The general consensus before then was that for a first language Perl or Python would be a good choice. Python was typically preferred because it was more approachable than Perl i.e more succinct.
With no prior programming experience (besides manually typing out programs into my C64 as a kid) I managed to build a program that connected to my webpage hosted by my ISP and changed a link in a page to point to a web-server I was running on my PC by just referring to the standard documentation.
That’s one point that doesn’t get mentioned I think. The standard documentation was clear and accessible in a variety of formats. Also Python on Windows was very easy to set up.
- Terr_ 3y ago> it was more approachable than Perl i.e more succinct. My dim memory of that time is that Python code was often longer than Perl, but that was OK because its selling-point was that it didn't have so many syntax edge-cases and it was easier to read. More things were actual words-for-humans as opposed to special symbols one had to memorize and apply according to special rules.
- CTDOCodebases 3y agoYou are probably right. "Succinct" implies it was short and clear. Maybe a better word choice would have been "clear" or "readable". I remember the creator at the time saying that he wanted a program language that was more like a natural language i.e the programmer could express the same idea in a multitude of ways. Maybe this approach resulted in code that was easier to write than to read since understanding natural language relies heavily on context and convention.