Why did no one invent Python before?

[Michael Sparks]

On 2 Jun 2004, j_mckitrick wrote:
...
> Yes, it's a silly question, but given how far we have come, why is it
> that a natural looking, easy to read, incredibly powerful language has
> appeared only recently, from a tech standpoint?
>
> I can't *believe* how much more productive I am with the built in data
> types and powerful expressions Python offers.  It made me want to quit
> my C++ job.  Well, not quite.  ;-)
>
> Seriously, why is a language like this only NOW appearing?  And aside
> from the interpreter, because while it is nice, it's not the main
> forte' of the language, IMHO.

Around 10 years ago I was using a language called Amiga E. After
programming with python for about a week, I realised why it felt
comfortable - Amiga E felt pretty much the same to program in. Key
differences were amiga specific (but the amiga was still alive, just,
then), compiled rather than interpreted (but compiled blazingly fast for
the tim), and not using whitespace for block structure.

People constantly invent new things, and sometimes they fly, and sometimes
they don't. It's probable the reason why python, perl, etc are flying now
is because the processing power is sufficient to make them practical now.

For example, if running your test suite takes 20 minutes now, on a dual
3Ghz machine then 10-15 years ago you're talking 20,000 minutes to run the
same tests on a 7Mhz machine of the time. ie approximately a month.

So 10-15 years ago, some modern styles of programming simply were not
practical.

Taking that same jump to extremes, *if* CPU cycle availability continues
to scale for the next 10-15 years, the same tests would take around 1.2
seconds, meaning the entire test suite _might_be possible to run during
program startup. At that point new languages and programming techniques
might become _practical_ which aren't practical today.

At that point, someone might come along and say "I can't believe how much
more productive I am with the built in runtime system diagnostic testing,
and automated algorithm anealling that Foobarr offers.  It made me want to
quit my Python job.  Well, not quite.  ;-)".

;-)

More seriously, for a different perspective, read http://tinyurl.com/2kbse
for similar comments on Babbage's machines and similar.


Michael.