What is different with Python ?

[Mike Meyer]

"Claudio Grondi" <claudio.grondi at freenet.de> writes:
> 
> What has it all to do with Python? To be not fully off-topic, I
> suggest here,  that it is much easier to discuss programming
> related matters (especially in case of Python :-) or mathematics
> than any other subjects related to nature, because programming is
> _so easy_ compared to what is going on in the "real world".
> I see the reason for that in the fact, that programming is based
> on ideas and rules developed by humans themselves, so it is
> relatively easy to test and proove if statements are right or not.

As a mathematician, I have to say "ugh". Not all statements are easy
to test and prove. In fact, in any non-trivial mathematical system,
there will be statements that *cannot* be proven to be either true
or false. Some of those statements are interesting. The legends of
mathematics are problems that aren't easy to test and prove: fermant's
last theorem, the four color map theorem, and so on. Check out <URL:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/UnsolvedProblems.html > for a longer list.

It's not clear that the ideas/rules were "developed" by humans. I'd
say "discovered". In some cases in the past, mathematicians unhappy
about some rule set out to show that it must be true (or false). In
failing to show that, they invented a new branch of mathematics.

I'd say programming is more like that. But I approach programming from
a mathematicians viewpoint.

        <mike
-- 
Mike Meyer <mwm at mired.org>			http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.