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Python: The import system. Why can't I easily import a file from any location in the file system? Javascript: Lacks support for 64-bit integers and arbitrary-p

by rpedela 13y ago

Python: The import system. Why can't I easily import a file from any location in the file system? Javascript: Lacks support for 64-bit integers and arbitrary-precision decimals. SQL: SQL injection.

Vaskivo 13y ago
I agree with the python one. Some more things I find annoying in Python: - Hardcoded recursion limit + no tail call optimization. I understand Guido's reasons for this but I find myself writing ugly code instead of beatiful code. (But maybe changing this would make Python's internals ugly.) Mainly Python but other languages too. - Length of the collection: len(foo). String representation: str(foo). Why not foo.len() or foo.str(). Or even better: foo.len or foo.str. As a Python user, I'm not a fan of getters. I think we should use the "attribute syntax" to get data about and of the object/type/thing, regardless if it involves any computations or not. (but would probably generate more problems than solve little nitpicks)
- chas 13y ago
  This doesn't help in quite the way you would like, but the recursion limit is adjustable through sys.setrecursionlimit [1]. [1]http://docs.python.org/2/library/sys.html#sys.setrecursionlimit http://docs.python.org/2/library/sys.html#sys.setrecursionli...
  - Vaskivo 13y ago
    The problem is not that there is a hardcoded limit. Python just isn't suited for heavy recursion. As for tail-call optimization, here's Guido's opinion (which I agree): http://neopythonic.blogspot.pt/2009/04/tail-recursion-elimination.html http://neopythonic.blogspot.pt/2009/04/tail-recursion-elimin...
captainmuon 13y ago
I second the Python one. Why the wierd distinction between packages, modules, and things in files? I believe all of these three should give me os.path.isdir: import os import os.path import os.path.isdir os.path.isdir(...) And to get isdir() directly, I would use either: from os.path import isdir import os.path.isdir as isdir This should work if path is either a package (a directory), a module (a file), or an object defined in os.py! Sometimes, for some reason if I only import a module, I can't use submodules. So `import os` wouldn't give `os.path.isdir`. I don't know when that occurs, maybe it was in an ancient version of python. But it leaves me with an uneasy feeling every time I use a submodule. Anyone know when this happens? Last but not least, it should be easier to import stuff from above the script. If my script lives at ./tools/foobar.py, and I want to import ./helper.py, it should just be something like # ./tools/foobar.py from .. import helper $ python ./tools/foobar.py # simple run-a-script syntax and not $ python -m tools/foobar # hideous run-a-module syntax or what I'm using now # ./tools/foobar.py # hideous boilerplate header import sys, os SCRIPTDIR = os.path.relpath(os.path.dirname(__file__) or ".") PARENTDIR = os.path.relpath(os.path.join(SCRIPTDIR, "..")) sys.path.insert(0, PARENTDIR) import helper $ python ./tools/foobar.py # simple run-a-script syntax

by rpedela 13y ago

Python: The import system. Why can't I easily import a file from any location in the file system? Javascript: Lacks support for 64-bit integers and arbitrary-precision decimals. SQL: SQL injection.

Vaskivo 13y ago

I agree with the python one. Some more things I find annoying in Python: - Hardcoded recursion limit + no tail call optimization. I understand Guido's reasons for this but I find myself writing ugly code instead of beatiful code. (But maybe changing this would make Python's internals ugly.) Mainly Python but other languages too. - Length of the collection: len(foo). String representation: str(foo). Why not foo.len() or foo.str(). Or even better: foo.len or foo.str. As a Python user, I'm not a fan of getters. I think we should use the "attribute syntax" to get data about and of the object/type/thing, regardless if it involves any computations or not. (but would probably generate more problems than solve little nitpicks)

chas 13y ago
This doesn't help in quite the way you would like, but the recursion limit is adjustable through sys.setrecursionlimit [1]. [1]http://docs.python.org/2/library/sys.html#sys.setrecursionlimit http://docs.python.org/2/library/sys.html#sys.setrecursionli...
- Vaskivo 13y ago
  The problem is not that there is a hardcoded limit. Python just isn't suited for heavy recursion. As for tail-call optimization, here's Guido's opinion (which I agree): http://neopythonic.blogspot.pt/2009/04/tail-recursion-elimination.html http://neopythonic.blogspot.pt/2009/04/tail-recursion-elimin...

captainmuon 13y ago

I second the Python one. Why the wierd distinction between packages, modules, and things in files? I believe all of these three should give me os.path.isdir: import os import os.path import os.path.isdir os.path.isdir(...) And to get isdir() directly, I would use either: from os.path import isdir import os.path.isdir as isdir This should work if path is either a package (a directory), a module (a file), or an object defined in os.py! Sometimes, for some reason if I only import a module, I can't use submodules. So `import os` wouldn't give `os.path.isdir`. I don't know when that occurs, maybe it was in an ancient version of python. But it leaves me with an uneasy feeling every time I use a submodule. Anyone know when this happens? Last but not least, it should be easier to import stuff from above the script. If my script lives at ./tools/foobar.py, and I want to import ./helper.py, it should just be something like # ./tools/foobar.py from .. import helper $ python ./tools/foobar.py # simple run-a-script syntax and not $ python -m tools/foobar # hideous run-a-module syntax or what I'm using now # ./tools/foobar.py # hideous boilerplate header import sys, os SCRIPTDIR = os.path.relpath(os.path.dirname(__file__) or ".") PARENTDIR = os.path.relpath(os.path.join(SCRIPTDIR, "..")) sys.path.insert(0, PARENTDIR) import helper $ python ./tools/foobar.py # simple run-a-script syntax