Switch from perl to python?

[Andrew Dalke]

Carl Banks wrote:
> Of course [python] was all objects, but that didn't mean it supported object
> oriented programming.  If you wanted to create your own type of
> object, you couldn't do it (unless you wanted to write it in C), until
> the class statement came along.  If someone had asked, "Can I do
> object-oriented programming in Python?" before the class statement
> existed, the correct answer would have been "No."

And since the 'class' statement was in Python from its first release,
doesn't that mean it was object oriented?  Or rather, when do you think
'class' was added to Python?

FYI, here's the earliest blurb I could find for Python, posted
13 Aug 1991 and titled "Beta testers wanted for Python 0.9.2"

Guido van Rossum (guido at cwi.nl):
] Promised Python blurb:
]
] Python is an interpreted prototyping language, incorporating modules,
] exceptions, dynamic typing, very high level dynamic data types, and
                                                                   ^^^
] classes.  Python combines remarkable power with very clear syntax.  It
   ^^^^^^^
] has interfaces to many system calls and libraries, as well as to
] various window systems, and is extensible in C.  It is also usable as
] an extension language for applications that need a programmable
] interface.

You could argue that you couldn't have classes in the (unreleased)
Python before the class statement, but then I could argue you couldn't
program in Java before it was able to compile.  (Or some similarly daft
statement.)

 > But, the fact that Python was all objects, and the object paradigm
 > adhered to good programming and OO principles, Python was able to add
 > support for OOP rather seamlessly.

"was able to add"?  And when was that?  After the first release?  I
don't think so, though I am willing to be proved wrong concerning some
of the early history of Python.


					Andrew
					dalke at dalkescientific.com