Writing solid code book

[Alex Martelli]

Roy Smith wrote:

> Jules Dubois <bogus at invalid.tld> wrote:
>> My "Software Engineering" class votes again tomorrow on the language we
>> use
>> for our group project.  Tuesday's vote was Java (8 votes), Python (5),
>> C++
>> (3), and Smalltalk (1); Thursday's vote will be between Java and Python. 
>> I get the opportunity to learn one or the other in a week.
> 
> How many votes does a language need to get to be elected Governor of
> California?

Given that they vote in a sensible way (runoff between the top two
candidates, rather than "first past the post") you can't directly
compare the two elections.  (You can get the same results as with a
preliminary vote + runoff by such methods as STV and Condorcet --
the whole issue was discussed in depth last spring on this group
regarding the ternary operator vote -- but that's an issue only if
arranging for voting twice is costly or inconvenient).


Alex