PyOpinion: Does Python Programming Marginalize You?

[Konrad Hinsen]

"Richard P. Muller" <rpm at wag.caltech.edu> writes:

> I love Python. Of the 10-15 programming languages I know, Python is
> the only language which I actually look forward to using. I wake up in
> the morning, ask myself, "Will I be using Python today?" and if the
> answer is "yes" I know that it's going to be a good day.

We seem to have something in common...

> And yet, I worry that using Python marginalizes one. Python is hard to
> beat for writing applications that run on a single computer. But
> that's yesterday's computing model. The future of computing, heck, the
> present of computing, is in writing programs that run through a web
> browser. And the fact of the matter is that 99% of web browsers
> surfing the internet run Java and JavaScript, which gives these

I don't agree. Any beginner's book on the Internet warns you about the
security risks with any form of active content, and many people
disable Java and JavaScript in their browsers.

Of course future technology may change this, but then future
technology could be Web browsers running Python!

Moreover, I don't expect Web-browser applets to become the main
programming model any time soon. There is always a need for things
that just can't be done inside a browser, things that need maximum
performance, and things that need powerful server hardware.

> I'm aware of CGI scripting with Python. It's great. But JavaScript

Try Zope, it's better!

> What else should we be doing to make Python *the* programming language
> rather than *a* programming language?

Write good Python code, and make it OpenSource. This will show what
Python is good for, and provide an incentive to learn Python for all
those who want to extend these programs.
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Konrad Hinsen                            | E-Mail: hinsen at cnrs-orleans.fr
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