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Half or more of the scientific research community live and breathe Python. Granted, it's Python 3.12, as 3.13 broke most of the C API, and everything COBOL and

by shakna 4mo ago

Half or more of the scientific research community live and breathe Python. Granted, it's Python 3.12, as 3.13 broke most of the C API, and everything COBOL and Fortran just about ground to a halt. But new projects are spun up constantly.

tannhaeuser 4mo ago
3.13 broke most of the C API 3.14 broke GC I guess these kinds of priorities are exactly why Python is not my favorite programming language and why you have tens of Python versions installed on any machine. Not to talk about the Python 2 -> 3 drama that was also about fetishising syntax and pureness over pragmatism, installed base, and respect for existing code.
- throwaway81523 4mo ago
  What happened in 3.13? Somehow I missed that. 2->3 was already a jump the shark incident though.
  - shakna 4mo ago
    > I removed around 272 private functions and 15 private variables from the public C API (compared to Python 3.12 API). [0] https://discuss.python.org/t/c-api-my-plan-to-clarify-private-vs-public-functions-in-python-3-13/30131 https://discuss.python.org/t/c-api-my-plan-to-clarify-privat...
    - throwaway81523 4mo ago
      Thanks, what madness. CPython wasn't abandoned in favor of PyPy at the 2 to 3 transition precisely because they wanted to keep the C extensions working. So what do they do next? Break the C extensions. Genius!
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]
amelius 4mo ago
Python is the new Matlab and Mathematica combined.
- postdoc74 4mo ago
  Not anywhere near Mathematica, but a good replacement for Matlab. From a daily user of all those.
  - amelius 4mo ago
    You are right in a way, but don't completely dismiss SymPy. Though I can see why you would never try it properly if you have a Mathematica license.
  - targafarian 4mo ago
    I forget who said it, but Python isn't the best at anything but it's decent to good at nearly everything, and that's why it's become so popular. I do a lot of what I need symbolically in SymPy for dynamics analysis. Past that, I can't speak for it. At University I used Mathematica, but I just don't need all it can do at this point, so once again Python has proven to be "good enough." Matlab will be a similar story (e.g., I've never seen a good alternative to Simulink in Python). But for everything else outside very specific domain tasks? Mathematica and Matlab are terrible for a lot of reasons. So I'll go out of my way to stay within the Python ecosystem, though I'm not afraid to pull out the specialty tools when I just can't make Python do the task near as well and/or nearly as quickly.

by shakna 4mo ago

tannhaeuser 4mo ago

3.13 broke most of the C API 3.14 broke GC I guess these kinds of priorities are exactly why Python is not my favorite programming language and why you have tens of Python versions installed on any machine. Not to talk about the Python 2 -> 3 drama that was also about fetishising syntax and pureness over pragmatism, installed base, and respect for existing code.

throwaway81523 4mo ago
What happened in 3.13? Somehow I missed that. 2->3 was already a jump the shark incident though.
- shakna 4mo ago
  > I removed around 272 private functions and 15 private variables from the public C API (compared to Python 3.12 API). [0] https://discuss.python.org/t/c-api-my-plan-to-clarify-private-vs-public-functions-in-python-3-13/30131 https://discuss.python.org/t/c-api-my-plan-to-clarify-privat...
  - throwaway81523 4mo ago
    Thanks, what madness. CPython wasn't abandoned in favor of PyPy at the 2 to 3 transition precisely because they wanted to keep the C extensions working. So what do they do next? Break the C extensions. Genius!
deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]

amelius 4mo ago

Python is the new Matlab and Mathematica combined.

postdoc74 4mo ago
Not anywhere near Mathematica, but a good replacement for Matlab. From a daily user of all those.
- amelius 4mo ago
  You are right in a way, but don't completely dismiss SymPy. Though I can see why you would never try it properly if you have a Mathematica license.
- targafarian 4mo ago
  I forget who said it, but Python isn't the best at anything but it's decent to good at nearly everything, and that's why it's become so popular. I do a lot of what I need symbolically in SymPy for dynamics analysis. Past that, I can't speak for it. At University I used Mathematica, but I just don't need all it can do at this point, so once again Python has proven to be "good enough." Matlab will be a similar story (e.g., I've never seen a good alternative to Simulink in Python). But for everything else outside very specific domain tasks? Mathematica and Matlab are terrible for a lot of reasons. So I'll go out of my way to stay within the Python ecosystem, though I'm not afraid to pull out the specialty tools when I just can't make Python do the task near as well and/or nearly as quickly.