Is this a dream or a nightmare? (Was Re: XML)

[Eric Melski]

On Sun, 8 Oct 2000, Emile van Sebille wrote:

> One recent study that many of this group participated in
> shows that python uses less lines of code than the other
> languages.
> 
> http://wwwipd.ira.uka.de/~prechelt/Biblio/jccpprtTR.pdf
> 
> Perhaps there are counter example studies you could point us
> to?

I don't think it's quite fair to say that this study shows that "python
uses less lines of code than the other languages."  Really, the study
shows that:

a) scripting languages in general require fewer lines of code for a given
task than do "systems" languages (C, C++, and Java)

b) the median length for programs written in any scripting language was
fairly close to the same, with small differences:  perl programs were a
bit shorter than python programs, which were a bit shorter than tcl
programs, which were shorter than rexx programs.

I base these statements off the first chart on page 19 of the report.  I
would hardly say that this study shows python as a clear winner as far as
program length is concerned; if that is not what the previous poster
intended, I apologize for misreading his statements.

   Eric Melski                            The Other Tcl Guy
   ericm at ajubasolutions.com            Ajuba Solutions