Python -- (just) a successful experiment?

[EP]

Robert Kern <rkern at ucsd.edu> wrote:

> Which is exactly why I said at the beginning that people shouldn't 
> bother with this thread and should instead just get to work.
> 


Robert, you are probably right, but I think how we get to work is important as well.

What I posted was a little intellectually thin, but it would be nice to stir the collective energy toward some common (and useful) objectives.  I think that something more than a superior language specification is required for a language to get a firm foothold in the IT world (and that is something I would personally like for Python.)

It seems there are people very capable and willing to develop the good applications/tools/frameworks on top of Python, but too many of those projects do not gain critical mass; rather we have dozens of competing applications and frameworks that never blossom to their full potential.  I'd love to see a little consensus on what "goodies" should be developed atop the language; what standards, principles, and API/hooks those goodies should provide; and then a collaborative effort to get there.  Projects with a broader buy-in have a greater chance of achieving their potential.

It does seem that perhaps some ground was gained with the WSGI effort.  I understand Django [http://www.djangoproject.com/], a RoR alternative based on the WSGI spec, already has some buzz though "the cat got out of the bag a bit early" and Django is "not officially launched just yet."

It makes sense to ask one's fellow developers and Python users what a new open source development should look and act like if one wants to develop something great.  Open source code denotes sharing, but we should add teamwork and community involvement in the code as connotations if we want our open source to reach its potential.


What are the top 5 developments, aside from specification and implementation details of the language itself, which Python still needs for greater success in the day to day IT world?




EriPy pyDerson





P.S.  In terms of a more concrete suggestion, I propose the Python community form an intervention team who are ready to fly in and intercede any time a developer, whose brilliance has been expended in their heroic coding effort, goes to name their new module, package, or application with a "py" other than to the right of the dot.