python suitability for large critical run forever apps

[Tim Rowe]

In article <3AB77CE4.78378862 at troikanetworks.com>, 
bedge at troikanetworks.com (Bruce Edge) wrote:

> I started using Python for come user CLI stuff. It has worked out so
> well that we're thinking about extending it's use in our project.
> I am not experienced enough to be able to answer some of the issues that
> came up. Does anyone have any thoughts on these:

<snip>

It depends on what you mean by "large critical run forever apps". I 
routinely deal with systems that can kill a few hundred people if they go 
wrong, and that's what /I/ mean by "critical". But then I baulk at the 
suggestion that such a system might be "large", never mind the suggestion 
that it might be multithreaded! If you need something like IEC61508 SIL4 
or the military equivalents then forget Python (and C/C++, and Perl, and 
Ruby...). That doesn't make /any/ of those a "toy" language, just not 
right for that application. I've said before -- here, I think -- that I 
don't believe in general purpose languages; to misquote Michael Jackson, 
if a language offers to helps you with /every/ problem, it won't help you 
/much/ with /any/ problem.