Wholly unnecessary flame. (was Re: pyXML!)

[Tim Peters]

[David]
> That doesn't really answer the question.
>
> Question: Why was VC chosen as the development platform, instead of an
> open-source compiler?

Python has run on DOS and Windows since its start ('91), and is used in
industrial-strength native Windows apps.  So there are three reasons:  (a)
Python's Windows history predates robust open-source Windows compilers; (b)
it's not enough to use a compiler that wants to pretend you're running on
Unix (i.e., full access to bleeding edge Windows internals is essential);
(c) like it or not, MS's compilation tools are by far the best running on
Windows today.

> Question: Are any VC-specific features/code/tweaks being used?

Free use is made of the Win32 API, and other Windowsisms.  Cygwin appears to
be up to snuff here today *except* for its thread support on Windows (which,
btw, is crucial for native Windows apps -- Windows lives & breathes
threads).

> ...
> Question: Are build files so different between compilers that there is no
> automatic tool for converting from build to build?

Probably true, but irrelevant.  People report that the Unix makefile works
pretty well with Cygwin.

> Question: Why wouldn't every Windows-platform code release
> include a binary file, to accomodate the vast numbers of Windows users
> who don't have VC, don't know how to operate the VC compiler and,
> frankly, really would rather get on with using the code instead of
> wrestling with compiling it?

This makes me suspect you've never used Python on Windows!  The *normal*
Windows Python release is a pre-compiled set of DLLs and .exes.  No
compiler, or any other development tool of any kind, is required of the
user.  The Windows distribution doesn't even include the C source code(!).
It's a binary installer.  You run it, you're done.

> I don't know bugger all about C/C++, and I really don't want to.

You don't have to.

> I don'thave a compiler

You don't need one.

> ...
> One of the biggest reasons I've stuck with Windows instead of Linux
> is that it is the most productive environment for the work I do, and with
> that same attitude of most-work for least-effort, I look toward using
> Python for my scripting needs, and desire pre-compiled binaries, so that I
> can just get to work immediately.

Sorry, but this has gotten too divorced from reality for me <0.3 wink> ...

honest-everything-you-asked-for-is-already-there-and-always-has-been-ly
    y'rs  - tim