Wheel-reinvention with Python

[Torsten Bronger]

Hallöchen!

Mike Meyer <mwm at mired.org> writes:

> Torsten Bronger <bronger at physik.rwth-aachen.de> writes:
>
>> [...]
>
> I notice that the Wikipedia doesn't have a definition for "special
> purpose language", instead preferring the phrase "Domain Specific
> Langauge". That matches the definition that agrees with what I
> think is common usage, which is:
>
>     Trade some of the flexibility of a general purpose language
>     for capabilities that are more tailored to a specific task
>
> Fortran certainly meets the requirements the wikipedia has for
> being a general purpose language.

As does TeX.  I don't think that this adds anything to the
argumentation.

>>> [...] Just like some C/C++ applications are legacy code, and some
>>> aren't. Which contradicts your earlier assertion that C/C++
>>> applications were all legacy code.
>>
>> Reference?
>
> See <URL:
> http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/browse_thread/thread/c52d3c17f1ea9ec5/d2013c3f1eef49b9?q=wheel+reinvention&rnum=1#d2013c3f1eef49b9
>>, where you dismiss all C applications a legacy code.

This URL points to an article by Paul McNett.

Probably you mean

>>> [...]  By which measure C is still immensely popular, because of
>>> the large number of older applications that are written in it
>>> that are available - Python being one such.
>
> Legacy code is not a sign of success IMO because it implies a
> difficult future.

Calling "older applications" "legacy code" is very different from
calling C/C++ a legacy code language.

> [...]
>
>> [...]  I just want to use a popular langauge amongst the ones
>> that have free success ("free" in the sense of Free Software).
>
> These leaves me with three questions for you:
>
> Is there a free language you consider successful?

Before the quibbling starts again: What do you mean with "free
language"?  For me, that's every language that I can use using
exclusively Free Software tools.

> [...]
>
> Are there any free language that have the GUI/IDE toolkit you
> want?

I don't know.  I haven't seen it yet.  Maybe Eclipse + SWT?

> Have you noticed that languages with really cool features aren't
> very popular?

This is probably true, but "really cool features" tend to become
"exotic features".  I don't need them, neither the masses.  A good
GUI toolkit is a nice "cool thing" to have.

Tschö,
Torsten.

-- 
Torsten Bronger, aquisgrana, europa vetus