Eiffel better than Python ?

[Alex Martelli]

"Tomasz Stochmal" <tom at peresys.co.za> wrote in message
news:f20ea932.0107030100.6c740683 at posting.google.com...
> I have read the following book which gives C/C++ heavy bashing
>
> http://www.elj.com/cppcv3/
>
> Conclusion is to use Java or even better choice is Eiffel
>
> Should I stop using Python and jump on Eiffel wagon ?
>
> Anybody that tried both languages ?
>
> How do they compare ?

Eiffel has reasonably-good strict, compile-time typing.

Python is totally oriented to dynamic, run-time typing
(often erroneously called "weak typing" -- that is, in
fact, something else).

So, they don't compare much: they've taken widely
different language-design choices from way back.  Eiffel
will do a good job of finding type mismatches at compile
time (not a perfect one due to the covariance problem),
Python won't even try and will rather maximize your
productivity so you can most easily and productively
develop and run lots and lots of tests (you need to test
a LOT even in a compile-time-typed language of course,
but it does occasionally diagnose an error earlier -- in
exchange, you have to do a lot more work, of course).

If you want a language that's even LESS compromising
than Eiffel in terms of typing, with *NO* possibility
whatsoever of a typing-error escaping the compiler,
try Haskell instead.  It's VERY instructive to become
productive in Haskell, and it's fun if you do it with
a book such as Hudak's "The Haskell School of Expression".

Then you can come back to Python with much deeper
appreciation for the role of immutability, list
comprehensions, functional programming, type deduction
by the compiler (Eiffel doesn't do that for you: you
have to tell the compiler everything -- Haskell is
designed so the compiler can DEDUCE types on your
behalf, although you do normally, redundantly, also
state them "out loud" so the compiler can catch your
logic mistakes).  When you're back to Python from
Haskell I suspect you'll miss Haskell's typeclasses,
such an UTTERLY elegant approach!, and the implied
lazy-evaluation of everything, perhaps the syntax
sugar that allows any function to be used as an infix
operator.  I think you WON'T miss Haskell's "monads",
a concept so powerful, refined and elegant that its
full import keeps escaping most of us:-).  In syntax
sugar terms, Haskell will give you significant whitespace
use that's not too far from Python, but you'll see lots
of (well-used) punctuation in lieu of keywords -- not
a big deal either way, of course.

In the end, I think Python is far more productive
for all kind of real-world uses, but an apercu on
statically-type-checked, nothing-is-mutable, lazy-
everything, &c, IS interesting and instructive.
Eiffel only does *part* of that for you...


Alex