[Python-Dev] Parrot -- should life imitate satire?

[Guido van Rossum]

> Guido van Rossum wrote:
> > 
> > > Also, the .NET CLR is standardized at ECMA so we could (at least in
> > > theory!) go to the meetings and try to influence version 2.
> > 
> > Notice the addition "in theory".  In practice, this is BS.
> 
> It depends on the rules and politics of each particular standards group.
> It is fundamentally a social activity. It also depends how much effort
> you are willing to put into promoting your cause. Sam Ruby is chair of
> the ECMA CLI group. He is a big scripting language fan. 
> 
> http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/tc39/
> 
> Also note the presence of Mike Cowlishaw of REXX fame and Dave Raggett
> of the W3C.
> 
> Working within a standards body is a gamble. It can pay off big or it
> can completely fail. We might find Microsoft our strongest ally -- they
> have always been interested in having the scripting languages work well
> on their platforms. They would hate to give programmers to have an
> excuse to stick to Unix or the JVM.

So it boils down to us vs. MS.  Guess who wins whenever there's a
disagreement.  I still maintain that it's a waste of our time.

> I don't personally know enough about this particular circumstance to
> know whether there is any possibility of significantly influencing
> version 2 or not. Maybe the gamble isn't worth the effort. But I
> wouldn't dismiss it out of hand.

Well, your boss has a pact with MS, so AS might pull it off. :-)

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)