What is Python good for?

[Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams]

On 12 Sep 2001, Steve wrote:

> Java is great for server side programming.  Perl is easy, and has a
> lot of built in features for text processing.  Visual Basic makes
> generating windows client app interfaces very fast.
>
> What is Python's major strength?  What benefit will someone have by
> taking the time to learn it?

Here's where Python's strength lies:

Go back to the programs you've written 12, 6, or even 2 months ago. Now try to
modify them to add additional features. Keep doing so for a long time.

Now do the same in Python.

You'll invariably find it much easier to do so in Python because it forces you
to write clean, readable code.

> Where does Python fall short?

It's not the fastest language around. But you'll often find that it's fast
enough.

-- 
Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams  <ignacio at openservices.net>