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Python from Wise Guy's Viewpoint

Hannu Kankaanp?? hanzspam at yahoo.com.au
Mon Oct 20 03:22:13 EDT 2003 
mike420 at ziplip.com wrote in message news:<LVOAILABAJAFKMCPJ0F1IFP5N3JTNUL0EPMGKMDS at ziplip.com>...
> THE BAD:
> 
> 1. f(x,y,z) sucks. f x y z  would be much easier to type (see Haskell)
>    90% of the code is function applictions. Why not make it convenient?

Python has been designed to attract non-programmers as well. Don't
you think f(x,y,z) resembles the mathematical notation of passing
a function some parameters, instead of "f x y z"?

> 5. Why do you need "def" ? In Haskell, you'd write
>    square x = x * x

The reason is just to make it clearer that we're defining
a function. I wonder why you didn't complain about
the colons at the beginning of each block.. Some syntax is
there just to add readability. I suppose it means nothing
to you that Python is compared to executable pseudocode.
It means to Pythonistas.

> 6. Requiring "return" is also dumb (see #5)

You really don't get any of this "explicit is better than implicit"
thing, do you? Requiring people to write "return" instead of
leaving it as optional like in Ruby, is again one reason why
Pythonistas *like* Python instead of Ruby. You come to
a Python group (and cross-post this meaninglessly everywhere
even though it only concerns Pythonistas) claiming that the
features we like are dumb, and you wonder why people think
of you as a troll..

Anyway, as a conclusion, I believe you'd be much happier with
Ruby than with Python. It doesn't do this weird "statement vs
expression" business, it has optional return, it has optional
parens with function calls, and probably more of these things
"fixed" that you consider Python's downsides. You're trying to
make Python into a language that already exists, it seems, but
for some reason Pythonistas are happy with Python and not rapidly
converting to Ruby or Haskell. Instead of trying to tell us
what we like (and failing at that, as you can see), maybe you
should try to think for a while of why we like Python.

By the way, have you already posted a similar message
to comp.std.c++, saying what they should change about C++
to make it more like Haskell or Ruby? I'd love to read it
(it could be hilarious) ;)
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