Is Python suitable for a huge, enterprise size app?

[George Sakkis]

"Kay Schluehr" wrote:

> > Think about it: if the
> > project fails (and that's quite likely for huge projects, not dark
> > humour) and you've done it in python, everyone will blame python
and
> > you who chose it; java OTOH belongs in the realm of "standard
> business
> > practices", so in a way "it's ok" to screw up, you did what
everybody
> > else does. Yet another failed java enterprise project, nothing to
see
> > here.
>
> Hi George, You probably know the tale about Achilles and the turtle?
> Where do You think Achilles would be located in the race against the
> turtle if Zeno would have convinced him that motion is impossible? I
> always thought that we Germans were hopeless pessimists ;)

Yeah, I know the tale; the difference is that the convincing arguments
there were a fallacy, while Pointy-Haired-Bosses are for real ;-) So
instead of calling this pessimism, I would put it somewhere between
cynicism and realism :-)

> It's a very funny logical loop inside this kind of arguments: don't
use
> great Python for grand multimillion $ projects because if You fail
> everyone trashes cute Python and claims that it is not reliable for
> grand projects and therefore will not be used for those.

I see what you're saying; however there's an 'else' branch in the
argument. That is, *if* such a grand project succeeds (possibly at a
much lower budget than predicted), it will similarly be a big boost for
marketing python. It's a high-risk / high-payoff bet. The reason I
would be cynic or pessimist (call it what you will) in this case is
mainly the inexperience implied in the OP's post ("I have been looking
and reading a lot about Python recently"). Now, if a decent percentage
of the multimillion $ bill would be invested in hiring 10 PSF members
with Alex Martelli for project lead, I would certainly reconsider my
statement about going with java <wink>.

George