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Python & Java: Side by Side Comparison

4 points by iamelgringo 19y ago

mironathetin 19y ago
He never had to debug complex python code. It's a nightmare.
ks 19y ago
Ir wouldn't make a difference to most examples, but he could save a few lines by not putting { on a separate line.
mynameishere 19y ago
You aren't going to be 5-10 times more productive by avoiding the nightmare that is System.out.println(), or any of the other things he mentions. For instance, I can't believe this warrants attention: if ( a > b ) { a = b; b = c; } if a > b : a = b b = c Why he thinks the Python example is better here I won't speculate upon--why he thinks the Python example would contribute to a 5x or more productivity increase I will attribute to foolishness--but it did give him a chance to gloss over meaningful whitespace, something that should have died with FORTRAN. a number of influential voices in the programming community have been expressing serious doubts about the supposed advantages of static typing. Ooh, an argument from authority. Well, I'm convinced. I could just as easily say that "IBM supports Java"--well, IBM is full of influencial voices, yes? Each top-level public class must be defined in its own file. If your application has 15 such classes, it has 15 files. Again, pure foolishness to think that this contributes to productivity. "Woe is me, I have to make another file." At any rate, I'm not sure "top-level" is an important distinction. I can put as many private or public static classes in the same file as I want. Do this enough, and you will find out why it is a bad idea. You discover that F must throw exception SpecialException, and it must be caught by A. False. To avoid this unmitigated nightmare, simply throw the exception up, or only use RuntimeExceptions. Java doesn't have first-class functions. That's its biggest problem.
- bayareaguy 19y ago
  Again, pure foolishness to think that this contributes to productivity. That aspect of Java can be very painful when you need to refactor your hierarchy if you don't have the appropriate tools. But that is not necessairly a fault of Java. Refactoring class hierarchies too often likely indicates a problem in the requirements, the design or the specific developer team.

4 points by iamelgringo 19y ago

mironathetin 19y ago

He never had to debug complex python code. It's a nightmare.

ks 19y ago

Ir wouldn't make a difference to most examples, but he could save a few lines by not putting { on a separate line.

mynameishere 19y ago

You aren't going to be 5-10 times more productive by avoiding the nightmare that is System.out.println(), or any of the other things he mentions. For instance, I can't believe this warrants attention: if ( a > b ) { a = b; b = c; } if a > b : a = b b = c Why he thinks the Python example is better here I won't speculate upon--why he thinks the Python example would contribute to a 5x or more productivity increase I will attribute to foolishness--but it did give him a chance to gloss over meaningful whitespace, something that should have died with FORTRAN. a number of influential voices in the programming community have been expressing serious doubts about the supposed advantages of static typing. Ooh, an argument from authority. Well, I'm convinced. I could just as easily say that "IBM supports Java"--well, IBM is full of influencial voices, yes? Each top-level public class must be defined in its own file. If your application has 15 such classes, it has 15 files. Again, pure foolishness to think that this contributes to productivity. "Woe is me, I have to make another file." At any rate, I'm not sure "top-level" is an important distinction. I can put as many private or public static classes in the same file as I want. Do this enough, and you will find out why it is a bad idea. You discover that F must throw exception SpecialException, and it must be caught by A. False. To avoid this unmitigated nightmare, simply throw the exception up, or only use RuntimeExceptions. Java doesn't have first-class functions. That's its biggest problem.

bayareaguy 19y ago
Again, pure foolishness to think that this contributes to productivity. That aspect of Java can be very painful when you need to refactor your hierarchy if you don't have the appropriate tools. But that is not necessairly a fault of Java. Refactoring class hierarchies too often likely indicates a problem in the requirements, the design or the specific developer team.