Article of interest: Python pros/cons for the enterprise

[Reedick, Andrew]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: python-list-bounces+jr9445=att.com at python.org [mailto:python-
> list-bounces+jr9445=att.com at python.org] On Behalf Of Tim Chase
> Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 8:58 AM
> To: estherschindler
> Cc: python-list at python.org
> Subject: Re: Article of interest: Python pros/cons for the enterprise
> 
> 
> Oh noes!  You might need competent programmers that actually
> understand what they're doing!
> 
> (they might even have to write testing code to make sure their
> code works as intended...it's a good thing that Python includes
> unittest and doctest modules in the stock install)
> 
> Sigh.  Any programmer that can overcome the hurdles of learning
> Java or C# can quickly/easily pick up Python as long as they're
> willing to unlearn some bad habits.
> 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: python-list-bounces+jr9445=att.com at python.org [mailto:python-
> list-bounces+jr9445=att.com at python.org] On Behalf Of Carl Banks
> Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 8:39 PM
> To: python-list at python.org
> Subject: Re: Article of interest: Python pros/cons for the enterprise

> C++ is a compile-time, type-checked language, which means it is
> totally safer for newbies than Python.  Yep, your big company is
> totally safe with newbie C++ programmers.



Eh, don't laugh too hard.  Since Python code isn't type-checked until
the actual code block is executed, you have to go through the extra step
of testing/running _every_ line of code before you'll find an error.
Then there's the problem of how mutable Python objects are.  So even if
you execute every line of code, you might not have executed the code
with every possible type of object combination.

Compared to a statically typed language, it can get very expensive to
write comprehensive test cases for python scripts.  So I wouldn't be
quick to dismiss the notion that Java/C#/C++ are more newbie-safe than
Python. =/

An amusing case in point was where I had a type-cast error in an
exception's catch block's print statement.  This simple error caused the
program to stop with an unhandled exception.  Something that basic would
have been caught in a statically typed language very early in the dev
cycle when it's cheaper to fix the problem.  And the idea of
running/testing exceptions or simple print statements isn't always
foremost in people's minds.  =P




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