[OT] (was: does lack of type declarations make Python unsafe?)

[Peter Hansen]

JanC wrote:
> 
> Christopher Koppler <klapotec at nusurf.at> schreef:
> 
> >> IIRC the first cars had a maximum speed of about 3.5 km/h and could
> >> drive about 5 km far.  Preparing the car for that took about an hour,
> >> and afterwards you had to repair it for another 2 hours.  Even a
> >> pedestrian could go faster, further, cheaper, and carry more weight
> >> with him...   ;-)
> >>
> > Yes, but those were the *very* first cars - alpha releases, which were
> > quite soon replaced by much more stable beta versions, and 1908
> > already saw version 1.0: the Model T Ford.
> 
> Well, it took them rather long to reach a final version 1.0 then: the
> Belgian inventor Jean Lenoir drove his first car in 1863...

See http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aacarssteama.htm
for a picture of a the first steam-powered car, by Cugnot, from 1771, 
plus comments that the first theoretical plans for a motor vehicle
were drawn up by da Vinci and Newton (in the first occurrence of
pair programming? ;-).

It also explains the use case for Cugnot's car: hauling artillery
for the military.

Other interesting points: 

- "In 1789, the first U.S. patent for a steam-powered land vehicle 
was granted to Oliver Evans.", proving that the U.S. patent office 
was filled with morons who would grant patents for just about any 
old thing that someone else had already invented, even 214 years ago. :)

- "In Britain, from 1820 to 1840, steam-powered stagecoaches were in 
regular service. These were later banned from public roads and Britain's 
railroad system developed as a result.", showing that even before the
alpha releases mentioned above, their was a valid use case for 
non-horse-driven carriages, and customers using them, even if an
early spate of road-rage put an end to that practice. :-)

- "In 1871, Dr. J. W. Carhart, professor of physics at Wisconsin State 
University, and the J. I. Case Company built a working steam car that won 
a 200-mile race", without specifying whether the poor horse(*) that it was
racing against later made good eatin'.  One would assume it had to go
faster than 3.5km/h to win such a race.

-Peter

(*) There's actually no indication it was a horse that was involved.