Python in the enterprise: Pros and cons

[Kim Petersen]

David LeBlanc wrote:

> * Python's obscurity in development shops
> 
> -- We don't WANT to take over the COBOL shops ;o)! I suspect most Linux and
> Windows programmers have heard of Python and it would not surprise me to
> know that a lot of them where using it internally where it's below the radar
> of the people who poll language use (Dataquest, Gartner Group?). IBM, HP and
> Intel use Python!
> 


Why not? (in fact i've been hired to do exactly that - hehe) From my 
point of view, Python encompasses a lot of the elements that the COBOL 
developers want (and some of what they always claimed COBOL to have .... 
readability!).

  * We have portability (surpassing most COBOL variants)
  * We have speed (at least as much speed as a COBOL developer will expect)
  * We have large scale database integration (via PyDBI (or what its called)
  * We have portable GUI's, that are extremely easy to use comparedly.

Learning Python is straight forward, and doesn't scare of a COBOL 
programmer in the way that C++ or Java would.