Python vs. C++ Builder - speed of development

[Brandon Van Every]

Alex Martelli wrote:
>
> On GUI development specifically: those parts of your GUI that you
> choose to have code-generated for you by some "GUI painter" program
> take you just the same amount of time whatever language your GUI
> painter code-generates into.  It's only when you want to modify (or
> enrich by inheritance, often a better choice) the generated code,
> e.g. to make the GUI *DO* anything (whether directly related to
> your appication, or indirectly as in a "proof of concept" prototype),
> that the language used for the modifications or enrichment matters.
> When it DOES matter, Python shines.

"Do anything" is an extreme formulation.  More accurate might be:
1) does the GUI builder provide the hooks I need for my problem domain?
2) is my problem domain going to change much?

>> This all sounds like an argument about spontaneous vs. architectural
>> coding styles.
>
> Your ears are playing you false.  While Python supports "spontaneous"
> (interactive, exploratory) coding PRETTY well (not QUITE as well -- in
> terms of available environments as opposed to the language itself --
> as languages that typically come with IDE's centered on the
> "workspace" concept, such as APL, Smalltalk, Lisp; but definitely
> better than
> e.g. Java, C++, Fortran), this does not imply it has any problem at
> all with supporting "architectural" (systematic, goal-directed)
> coding.

My contention is, if your approach is incremental and architectural, Python
does not offer any amazing payoff over C++.  Python only gives you a big
value add when you're trying to be more spontaneous.

> I have noticed similar orders of magnitude in the productivity boost
> that Python gives me (compared with, for example, C++ or Java) in
> either case.

Expertise, quality / badness of the design you're working with, and your
level of control over the project are all factors here.  It's hard to
compare apples to apples without looking at someone's project.  I guess in
the end, you just try it out.  I wonder if people evaluate their positive
experiences for the correct reasons though.

--
Cheers,                         www.3DProgrammer.com
Brandon Van Every               Seattle, WA

20% of the world is real.
80% is gobbledygook we make up inside our own heads.