How popular is Python, anyway? (was: Long Live Python!)

[Peter Hansen]

Rainy wrote:
> 
> On 13 Jul 2001 11:59:09 +0300, Ville Vainio <vvainio at karhu.tp.spt.fi> wrote:
> > sill at optonline.net (Rainy) writes:
> >
> >> this and that, and getting hired. I actually did use some python at my
> >> previous job (some cgi/image manipulation). I was then asked to redo it
> >> in perl :-/."
> >
> > And that's when you reached for your revolver?
> 
> No, the script was fairly short, maybe a hundred lines. It was also the kind of
> script that you write once and never have to extend, so doing it in perl wasn't
> a problem. 

I understand what you mean here, but I'm not sure I believe in the
idea that there really are scripts you write once and never have to extend.

That's why I value Python's maintainability so much: effectively
every program or script we write has to be extended, even if just 
in the first few months of use.

With Python, we regular hand off 100 line programs from one person 
to another for completion and maintenance, as people are available.  
I think there's even one each of us has contributed to over the 
last year.  Contrary to what you might imagine, it has become
progressively cleaner and easier to understand, rather than growing
into its own little tar pit of a program.

-- 
----------------------
Peter Hansen, P.Eng.
peter at engcorp.com