SV: Python Productivity over C++

[Michal Vitecek]

Hung Jung Lu <hungjunglu at hotmail.com> wrote:
>--- In python-list at egroups.com, Neurocrat <neurocrat at o...> wrote:
>>for (int i = 0; i < 10; ++i);
>>         cout << "Hello" << endl;
>>
>>This, of course, prints "Hello" only once, not 10 times as we
>
>When I started to use Python a few years ago, the thing that told me that 
>Guido had some brain was exactly little tiny features like that.
>
>Try to talk to some hardcore Perl or C++ programmers, and most likely they 
>will balk back at you. "What? Python does not even support increment 
>operator like i++? What kind of a retarded language is that?"
>
>I have had hard time convincing to fellow C++ programmers that an assignment 
>inside an "if" statement is a bad thing, to no avail. E.g:
>
>    if ( a = getNumber() ) {...}
>
>Sure, totally valid statement in C++, but why would anyone introduce such a 
>stupid feature so you and your compiler get confused all the time with
>
>    if ( a == getNumber() ) {...}

 i have no idea why you call this a stupid feature - IMO this all makes
 the program shorter and as such more readable. this is really something i
 hate about python, missing ++ and -- operators plus having to do the
 assignment stupidly before if comment - more & longer source.

>C++ programmer get bitten all the time with the == && || operators, and 
>refuse to acknowledge that there is a problem.

   :) maybe C++ programmers like you? i personally never had any problem
 with ==, && and ||, what's more - in the source those 'glyphs' help to
 increase the readability - there's less of real text. can you describe
 your problems with those operators? oh, and don't forget C/C++ has been
 here for years - it's like with VI - you hate it until you
 get to know it in deep.
   and one more thing - most programming languages are similar to C/C++ in
 syntax - and most programmers are/were coming from C/C++ world. making
 differences like and, or instead of && ||, or no assignments in if
 statements means much less people actually like python and refuse to use
 it. it has some really great features, other are really stupid and
 uncalled-for.

>
>Guido was smart enough to get rid of the confusing operators. You can't do
>
>   if a = b:
>
>and you have to use explicitly the "or" "and" keywords instead of the 
>cryptic "&&" "||". And the superflous operators "+=" "++" are eliminated. 
>(Why? If you are trying to save nanosecond execution time, or 3 bytes in the 
>code by using Python, you are in the wrong business.)
>
>And Perl people would issue you a stern warning about the indentation in 
>Python, they'd say: "be very careful with the unusual indentation of Python, 
>you miss one space and all hell breaks loose." Yeah right. I've been 
>programming in Python for 3 years, now. It might have happened 2 or 3 times. 
>Compare with Perl where every single program I wrote was a nightmare to 
>debug, even if they are just a few lines. And guess what? No matter whether 
>it is Perl or C++, I always do proper indentation and match up all the 
>statements and parentheses neatly by hand, so do all the dozens programmers 
>that I have worked with. So the parenthesis and the semicolons sit there for 
>... I guess, to be pretty? :) For avoiding a bug that might happen once a 
>year, Perl and C++ prefer that you introduce bugs that happen daily or even 
>hourly. Great logics.
>
>After I saw what Guido did with the == && || ++ operators, I knew some brain 
>was put into Python. And since then, I have never looked back.
>
>Hung Jung
>
>
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-- 
			fuf


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