abstract features

[Courageous]

>One salespitch* I've used for Python is that it is so readable that experienced
>C programmers can read simple programs without knowing any Python at all. 
>However, when I've shown folks random, simple examples of code, it's always been
>hard to explain slices.  Still, slices are essential so they're hard to avoid,
>even in simple code.

When I first learned slices, I thought they were just plain radical. Python gets a lot
of things right. I like, for example, that when someone else writes some Python,
I'm likely to be able to read it. These are nice benefits, and I'm not knocking
Python. However, as Python grows, the essential minimalism that characterized
early Python will go (already has gone, somewhat) by the wayside. As this happens,
Python becomes less useful as a learning language.

It will, however, probably always be quite a bit better than C, even with an
abundancy of forms. And introductory texts can always save advanced
operations for later in the text.

The one thing that is essential is that Python doesn't become Perl. The number
of Perl programmers I know who've complained about not being able to read
and understand their _own_ code after not looking at it for a while practically
matches the number of Perl programmers I know. :) This has lead to the meme
that Perl is a "write only language".

Not good.

C//