Python fot medium/large size projects

[Peter Hansen]

Rosinger wrote:
> 
> In your opinion, how suitable is Python for medium to large projects?
> By this I mean around 15 developers, where a framework is built and
> developers can build code based on it.
> 
> I don't want to ask specific questions, so not to bind the discussion
> to a specific topic. Any opinion will be appreciated.

Python is arguably one of the most capable languages around for this kind 
of environment.  My group, currently down to ten, has been as high as
about 15 Python-only developers, working on a project with (as of now)
something like 100K lines of code.  

This total is not counting code in the existing frameworks on top of 
which we've built.  For example, Twisted (a large framework for 
asynchronous event-driven systems, including TCP servers) has something
like 60K lines of code in it, and I believe Zope is even larger.

If comparing those totals to SLOC counts for other languages, you 
should realize that Python generally products much shorter code for
the same functionality than many more traditional languages such as
C++ or Java (but almost as short as Perl, I believe).  As I recall,
the rule-of-thumb is a 10:1 ratio, so 60K lines of code is more like
600K lines of code in C.  (Somebody will correct me if I'm wrong.)

Of note, my group is an Extreme Programming group, using test-driven
development (i.e. "agile development").  A portion (25% at current?) 
of that code is unit and acceptance tests, and I consider these essential 
for effective use of Python on such projects.  (I consider such tests 
essential for use of any language, really, but that's another story. :-)

-Peter