Long Live Python!

[phil hunt]

On Tue, 10 Jul 2001 15:31:11 -0700, Paul Prescod <paulp at ActiveState.com> wrote:
>Kemp Randy-W18971 wrote:
>> 
>> So an interesting question is raised.  If PHP and Ruby are gaining
>> acceptance because they address business needs, what needs to be done to
>> carry Python in that direction?  And while Java may be slow, Sun pushing it
>> for business solutions also gives that language acceptance.  How can Python
>> become as popular as Perl, Java, or PHP?
>
>Perl, Java and PHP all grew popular by solving a particular problem at a
>particular time, better than any other language. (I'm thinking of system
>administration/CGI, Applets and web page generation). Perl and Java grew
>into general purpose languages over time. The jury is still out on PHP.
>
>Python does not have a niche and is not obviously a niche-friendly
>language.

Sure it does: python's niche is as a scripting language that's also good
for longer programs.

> That means that it has a harder slog to gain adherents. On the
>other hand, Python is not as dependent on its niche. I think that Python
>is probably growing faster than Perl and PHP now that those two
>languages have basically dominated their niches. 

I've heard there is a Python Server Pages program that lets you use Python
in the same way you would with PHP or JSP. Has anyone used this? Is it any 
good? Of course, there is also Zope, which is another Python-to-web
interface.

>Consider the status of
>Tcl which is not growing much since other languages invaded the "easy
>GUI development" niche.

Including Python.

>Java has of course outgrown its initial niche but it is hardly fair to
>compare Python to a language backed by Sun, IBM, etc. If Python had that
>kind of backing it would be as big or bigger than Java too.

Indeed.

-- 
## Philip Hunt ## philh at comuno.freeserve.co.uk ##