Python vs. C++ Builder - speed of development

[Laura Creighton]

> Hi all,
> 
> I don't want to start a thread comparing the Python and C++ languages, but
> one question bothers me. Using Python, you can of course develop very
> quickly due to high level constructs and the absence of compilation. On the
> other hand, so-called "builder IDEs" or "RAD-IDE" (i.e. Borland C++ builder,
> Microsoft Visual C++) also promise to allow you to develop quickly, even in
> a less high-level language.
> 
> Therefore, my question is:
> 
> Is, or under which circumstances is the time which can be gained by using a
> RAD-IDE equivalent to the time gained by using Python directly?
> 
> -Patrick

My guess is 'never'.  The problem with developing in C++ is not that
you don't have an IDE that makes development faster, but that in C++
there are so many ways to shoot yourself in the foot that you have
to spend forever re-reading your code to make sure that it doesn't
interact in nasty, horrible ways with other people's code.  Or you
spend your life debugging other people's badly designed templates.
Or on the phone to Borland saying that you have found another bug in
the destructors ... or ....

I don't think that it is possible to write an IDE that makes me as
productive in C++ as I am in Python with ed(1).  That is because almost
all my time spent in C++ come from some other place than actually writing
code from scratch.  Other people's milage may vary.

Laura Creighton