why is python better than eg. smalltalk?? no one has any solid arguments! you should all go to church with all that religious talk!

[francois lepoutre]

> Maybe what people like is all the extra software which has
> been and is being written for python, which you do not have in smalltalk?
> or what is it?

Pleasantly surprised to find a smalltalk user
here. Smart people:)

My .0002 cents on python success:

1989 - I spent a couple of intellectually rewarding
weeks  (holiday ones ...)  with the great Park's
books  and a version of smalltalk:)

Was no computer science by education, just
basically a professional and a geek looking
for a practical tool to solve problems.

Tried to develop something useful. Was unable
to do so. The MVC model broke my brain.
But I discovered object orientation. It was a
great, unique and tasty experience.

2001 - my IIS module (an ISAPI-based servlet)
sometimes breaks. Will never know why...
Needed something a stable and simple way out
of this nightmare.

Enters python, no training, no book, just a couple
of hours reading online and off we go. I spat out
the code code for this reasonably complex app
in a couple of days, forgetting i was coding an
alien syntax. But was it alien?

Apache got in the way, sql engines as well, html
and javascript syntax too. Python never did.
Last time it happened was with visicalc back in
the beginning of the eighties...

My inner feeling is that python is the Esperanto,
not the Latin, of computer languages. Cleaner,
leaner, simpler.

If you can talk a few computer languages, you're
fluent in python as well.  Ain't no religious matter
here. Just a compelling and enduring advantage.

By the way:

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