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Python from Wise Guy's Viewpoint

Kenny Tilton ktilton at nyc.rr.com
Mon Oct 20 12:49:25 EDT 2003 
Joachim Durchholz wrote:


> I'd really like to see a Lisp dialect that valued reliability over raw
> expressive power. But I fear this isn't very high on the agenda of the
> Lisp community. 

Reliability does not have to come from a strait-jacket language. Here is 
a C++ Fanatic converted to Python, who gets reliability from test-driven 
development: http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=4639

> Let me add a troll-bait disclaimer: Actually I don't see *any* language
> that's fit for production use. 

I have used CL for a huge application, using CLOS heavily. The first 
couple of months had me refactoring quite a bit as I searched for 
personal guiding principles, esp. with regards to multiple inheritance. 
On a prior substantial app, I worked out my personal prefs with regards 
to the model-view thing.

In the end I have my own rules which /limit/ the ways I use CLOS. These 
self-imposed constraints tame the potentially wild beast. The only power 
lost is the power to tie myself in knots.

OO /is/ a slightly different paradigm, and CLOS does have a ton of 
expressive power. It is also approachable, so it is easy to just dive in 
and start winging code around. But there is no reason to think one will 
not have to train a few neurons to get /fluent/ in something so substantial.

kenny

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