Article of interest: Python pros/cons for the enterprise

[Nicola Musatti]

On Feb 21, 5:14 pm, Steve Holden <st... at holdenweb.com> wrote:
> Ryan Ginstrom wrote:
> >> On Behalf Of Nicola Musatti
> >> Newbies learn, and the fundamental C++ lessons are usually
> >> learnt quite easily. Unless we're talking about idiots, that
> >> is, but in this case at least C++ is likely to make their
> >> deficiencies evident sooner than most other programming
> >> languages. So, yes, your big company is likely to be safer
> >> with newbie C++ programmers than with Python newbie programmers.
>
> > The danger of memory leaks alone makes C++ a decidedly newbie-unfriendly
> > language. Java I might go along with, but C++?
[...]
> I think you can safely assume that an <irony></irony> tag pair should
> have surrounded Nicola's assertion.

To an extent, certainly. As not all companies can afford to hire only
the best, you do have to cater for newbies. The way to do it, however,
is not to provide them with "sandbox" languages [1], but rather to
ensure that they acquire experience as quickly as possible and that
they aren't in a position to do more damage than expert programmers
through their inexperience. To this purpose mentoring, tests and code
inspections appear to me as more effective tools than a garbage
collector.

Still, suppose you were to choose a team of swimmers that had to be
ready for a tough task in a short time; the first time around, would
you push them into the swimming pool with or without a life jacket?
The trouble with C++ is that at times it takes you sooo long to
drown ;-)

Cheers,
Nicola Musatti

[1] I'm not thinking of any specific language, but rather to the
notion that some languages are inherently "safe".