New project coming up...stay with Python, or go with a dot net language??? Your thoughts please!

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Mon, 03 Oct 2005 09:01:37 -0500, spiffo wrote:

> The Main Issue in a nutshell
> 
> I am a corporate developer, working for a single company. Got a new project
> coming up and wondering if I should stay with Python for this new, fairly
> large project, are jump back on the 'safe' M$ bandwagon using a dot net
> language? 

What makes you think dot net will be any safer than the last half dozen
"bet the farm" technologies Microsoft used?

http://lwn.net/Articles/85797/?format=printable

(Disclaimer: the author is my boss.)


> Cross platform is NOT an issue, but COMPLETE control/compatability
> with MsSql Server (current and future versions) certainly is.

How can you have COMPLETE (your emphasis) control over software when you
don't have access to the source code?

[snip]

> Ok, I LOVE python, so that is not the issue, but, I am getting very worried
> about it's growth. I recently re-visted the web looking at alot of projects
> I assumed would be up and running by now from over a year ago, such as Boa
> Constructor, Iron Python etc... it seems all these projects get started, but
> never finished.

I'm not sure what you are trying to say here.

Why do you care if "a lot of projects" are not finished? Do you need them?
Why waste time worrying about projects that don't interest you?

What do you mean by "finished"? To my mind, a finished project is an
obsolete project that nobody is working on any more. Is that a good thing?
Is MS SQL "finished"?

> Also, more and more I need *complete* control of ms sql from my apps, which
> is simply not available from the adodbapi module I got off the internet...
> also, ms sql 2005 is getting ready to come out... what if the guy that wrote
> adodbapi.py does not feel like upgrading it so it even works with MS SQL
> SERVER 2005? Yeesh... you get the picture...

Then you could offer him some money to support it.

Or, if it is Open Source software, you could support it yourself, or hire
a consultant to do it. How much is it worth to you? What would it cost you
to *not* use Python?

If it would cost you $100,000 to develop your app in Python, and $200,000
to develop it in the alternatives, then that gives you a war-chest of
$100,000 you can spend.

(Disclaimer: the company I work for does that sort of consulting and
development work.)

How much money will you save by dropping MS SQL licence fees by migrating
to MySQL or Postgres? Will that money saved be enough to hire a full-time
developer to keep adodbapi updated?


-- 
Steven.