Python and Flaming Thunder

Dave Parker daveparker at flamingthunder.com
Tue May 13 11:24:35 EDT 2008


>  The "Flaming Thunder" looks promising, but without being free
> software, it's unlikely it will create a large developer community,
> specially considering both free general purpose and scientific
> programming languages.

Perhaps.  Flaming Thunder is only $19.95 per year for an individual
(and even less per individual for site licenses), which is less than
the cost of just one book on Python.

I think that many people will find that Flaming Thunder is easier to
use and understand than Python -- so for many people the amount of
time they save will be worth more than the cost of Flaming Thunder
(unless, of course, their time is worth $0).

Also, several users have rewritten their Python programs in Flaming
Thunder, and found that Flaming Thunder was 5 to 10 times faster
(Flaming Thunder compiles to native executables).  So again, since
many people value their time at more than $0, I think that many people
will find that Flaming Thunder is worth $19.95 per year.

Plus, me getting paid to work on Flaming Thunder is far more
motivating than me not getting paid to work on Python.  This weekend,
Python users will still be debating how to fix awkwardnesses in the
languages (such as FOR loops where you're just counting the loops and
not referencing the loop variable) -- but Flaming Thunder users will
be getting work done using the REPEAT n TIMES constructs that I'll be
implementing.

Python has been around about 15 years, yet still has those
awkwardnesses.  Flaming Thunder has been out less than 6 months and
those awkwardnesses are already getting fixed.  The difference: I
can't afford to ignore users.

But the future is one of the hardest things to predict, so we'll see.

On May 13, 8:34 am, hdante <hda... at gmail.com> wrote:
> On May 13, 10:58 am, Paul McGuire <pt... at austin.rr.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On May 13, 8:32 am, Dave Parker <davepar... at flamingthunder.com> wrote:
>
> > > > Don't let yourself be irritated by castironpi
>
> > > I'm not the sort to get irritated by anyone.  There is value in all
> > > interaction.
>
> > Not this interaction, I'm afraid.  What irritates *me* about
> > castironpi is that he uses a chatterbot to clutter up the threads
> > here.  If you go back to his postings from a year ago (and selected
> > ones since), his comments are coherent and sensible.  These rambling
> > stream-of-consciousness rants about t.v.'s and coffee are (I guess)
> > his idea of a joke.  But they are certainly not worth your time in
> > trying to respond to them.
>
> > -- Paul
>
>  I don't think castironpi so annoying that I should filter its
> messages. It would be enough if he were better tuned. He is much
> smarter than the emacs shrink, for example. :-P
>
>  The "Flaming Thunder" looks promising, but without being free
> software, it's unlikely it will create a large developer community,
> specially considering both free general purpose and scientific
> programming languages.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -




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