Does Python compete with Java?

[kk]

That is exactly my point!  If I were starting a company that needed a
staff to write custom software or software for sale, I could choose to
use Python as the predominate tool.  Assuming this was a rational
decision, and not an emotional one, this could lower my costs by
making programmers more productive, and making maintenance cheaper. 
However, if there are no programmers in my area that know Python, how
could I justify that decision?  I would have the expense of training
programmers on the job, as well as having a hard time getting
applicants for the job.

Python doesn't have big company dollars behind it like Java and C#,
and some say it never will.  It could be argued that the same thing
was said about Linux a few years ago.  Now, you can't pick up an IT
rag without reading something about Linux and Open Source.

compete -> as in developer mind-share.

I would hope that someday Python would be a "tool" that "most"
developers would want to have in their "tool box".


Peter Hansen <peter at engcorp.com> wrote in message news:<KbydnZd2qY7uyuPdRVn-uw at powergate.ca>...
> Maurice LING wrote:
> > A. Lloyd Flanagan wrote:
> >> Dave Benjamin <ramen at lackingtalent.com> wrote:
> >>> Over the long term, I think Python's biggest key to success will be 
> >>> that we will still be able to read the programs that we are writing now.
> >>
> >> No argument here :)
> > 
> > I don't quite understand, does Python have to compete with Java? In many 
> > cases, the programming language used to write an application almost has 
> > no relevance to the acceptance of the application. 
> 
> That's not the whole picture though.  One would also like to be able
> to easily find programmers capable of working very effectively with
> the language, so that maintenance can be performed, and enhancements,
> and new projects using the same language.
> 
> This "competition" he's talking about is not really going on in the
> users' minds, but in the developers' minds.  Imagine how difficult it
> would be to get anywhere with projects if there were so many popular
> languages that the odds of a given developer knowing your language
> were, say, less than 2%...
> 
> > What I see is that Python and Java can be synergistically linked, for 
> > example, through Jython, can be more constructive than competition...
> 
> That is yet another of Python's strengths. ;-)
> 
> -Peter