python vs java

[Jorgen Grahn]

On Wed, 6 Sep 2006 17:53:29 +0530, Aravind <aravindmail007 at yahoo.co.in> wrote:
> hi,
>
> some of my friends told that python and java are similar in the idea of
> platform independency. Can anyone give me an idea as i'm a newbie to java
> and python but used to C++.

Well, what Java and Python (and some other languages) have in common is a
large standard library.

The C++ standard library is smaller, and doesn't cover things like advanced
file I/O, networking, concurrency, or user interfaces. You either have to
find third-party portable libraries for the things you want to do, or target
a specific platform.

As a side note, Python differs from Java by happily including non-portable
things in its standard library. If Unix people need access to poll(2); fine,
then they make it available, even though it won't work on e.g. Win32.
And document that it isn't portable.

/Jorgen

-- 
  // Jorgen Grahn <grahn@        Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu
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