Python not a Very High-Level Language?

[srenner at lycosmail.com]

> >> Languages ... that should also be mined for inspiration are
> >> Prolog, Dylan and SETL

[Mention of Mozart/Oz]

Tim et al:

	Mozart/Oz does look interesting. It suffers from the same problem as
Python, as far as I am concerned: it is written in C. (Or maybe C++.)
UHLL or even VHLL are not what is always needed, as shown by the fact
that all of these languages seem to be written in C or C++ (or Java,
which presents different issues that I'll get to in a minute.) As you
are probably only dimly (if at all) aware, I've been using Python and
PyOpenGL to test some realtime rendering ideas. At a certain point I
began to grow increasingly frustrated my lack of control over the many
layers involved (Python, PyOpenGL, Mesa library, X windows, Linux). The
chief point of frustration was the repeated delay of XFree 4.0 and
accelerated 3d board drivers, but it was embedded in a larger
frustration, and it became clear the only way to escape it was to either
master C, C++, and lots of other stuff which I already had theoretical
reasons to avoid, or to find an alternative which I could better hope to
comprehend.
    Another consideration was speed. I wanted Python's RAD combined with
the option of dropping into a less dynamically typed language for
compiled speed. Again, I could have used C. But whether it is a
glorified assembler or a horrible joke, the only reason to use C is
because everyone else is already using it. There aren't any arguments
for it from first principles.
    So I needed a garbage collected systems-level language for which I
could hope to build RAD tools* and which had at least one accelerated 3d
driver. There is such a language. It's called S3 Native Oberon. It runs
on bare PC hardware with no other OS. There are theoretical arguments
for Oberon that I'm not qualified to give but which I buy.
    Why not Java? It doesn't run on a bare PC, as far as I know, so
C/Linux/X is still there. It's huge. It doesn't look any nicer than C++,
although it has type safety and GC. And Oberon caught my eye.
    The lone developer is obviously in an exceptional position. I never
received one piece of mail about my renderer prototype in the PyOpenGL
demo directory. This is not a complaint, merely a reason that I don't
have to worry about whether others can run my software.
    Again, Oz looks so cool. And Python is great. Just not C. Or
anything that reminds me of C.

sr

*I'm considering a Squeak ST/Oberon project because my Argentinian
programmer friend, a Squeak guru, is coming to the States.


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