Why should I switch to Python?

[Grant Griffin]

Fredrik Lundh wrote:
> 
> Grant Griffin <g2 at seebelow.org> wrote:
> > However, perhaps I have inferred the philosophy wrongly.  I know that
> > you (or maybe he) have written numerous posts that touch on Python's
> > design philosophy, but do you know if Guido has ever formalized Python's
> > design philosophy on a web page or something?
> 
> the best summary can be found here:
> http://www.deja.com/=dnc/getdoc.xp?AN=485548918
> 
> for another view, see guido's foreword to the first edition
> of programming python:
> http://www.python.org/doc/essays/foreword.html
> 
> </F>

Thanks, F--those were very interesting!

The one at top was very nearly poetic, worthy of study.  As I read
through it and tried to apply its criteria to "augmentation operators"
(as Tim calls them--you learn something every day around here!), it was
maybe a draw: some points seemed to argue "for", some seemed "against".

But the one at the bottom clearly seemed "against".  In particular,
Guido writes:

"Readability is often enhanced by reducing unnecessary variability. When
possible, there's a single, obvious way to code a particular construct.
This reduces the number of choices facing the programmer who is writing
the code, and increases the chance that [it] will appear familiar to a
second programmer reading it."

is-tim-applying-his-philosophy-of-sticking-to-a-consistent
   -philosopy-consistently?-<wink>-ly y'rs,

=g2
p.s.  From my own selfish point of view, I still like augmentation
operators, not just for their convenience, but because I think they
convey a certain amount of meaning--at least to the initiated.  And
unfortunately, in Python, I've found myself using unnecessarily short
variable names as a mitigation for their absence.
-- 
_____________________________________________________________________

Grant R. Griffin                                       g2 at dspguru.com
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