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Python training time (was)

Andy Freeman anamax at earthlink.net
Wed Feb 5 00:36:02 EST 2003 
"Brandon Van Every" <vanevery at 3DProgrammer.com> wrote in message news:<GTV%9.7673$ek4.753437 at newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net>...
> Andy Freeman wrote:
> > "Brandon Van Every" <vanevery at 3DProgrammer.com> wrote in message
> > news:<fZD_9.914$ek4.91595 at newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net>...
> >> So, how much time do you have to put into Python before you've
> >> mastered
> >> *every* aspect of the language?  I do mean "every."  Less than a
> >> year?  6 months?  3 months?  Be honest.
> >
> > That's the wrong question.
> 
> It isn't "the wrong question," it is exactly the question I intended to ask.

Of course it was - you're trying to play "gotcha".

I note that you don't know every aspect of C++, yet you claim to be
productive, so if that standard is good enough for C++....

Almost all programming is done by folks who don't understand every
aspect of the language that they use.

> > The right question is either "How long does it take to become more
> > productive
> > in Python than you are in C++?" or "How long does it take to become
> > more productive in Python than you'll ever be in C++?"
> 
> Useful questions, but they have no inherent rightness.

Actually, they do, as YOUR standards are "getting work done".  If
you want to engage in theoretical language wanking, I suggest SetL
or Algol68.

> You can probably observe something about the relative complexity of
> languages if you compare the upper bounds of their learning curves.

You can't observe anything useful at that point because no one gets
there.  The useful point is "how much does someone have to know to be
productive".

> There are
> some kinds of simple, pedal-to-the-metal, yet object oriented problems that
> Python will never be as good a choice for.

Interestingly enough, we've shown that to be false, unless, of course,
you want to argue that C++ runs slower than C++.  (Hint: Martelli
described one technique for developing in Python and delivering C++
that is faster than developing in C++ and I described another.)
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