php vs python

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On Sun, 25 May 2008 21:41:09 -0400, Jerry Stuckle wrote:
> The the good programmers are able to adapt to the language and make the
> most of whatever language they're using.  The result is good code. OTOH,
> poor programmers I have known have found all kinds of excuses - from the
> language itself to lack of requirements, to anything else they can
> blame, except the real root of the problem.

That's true - but I wonder if there might not be differences at the 
margins. Some languages (and, which is not quite the same but not easy to 
fully distinguish either, the communities around some languages) may 
encourage mediocre programmers to produce slightly more or less mediocre 
programs.

Some features of Python (the one that really stands out for me is not 
default-initializing variables on first use; the comparatively clean 
standard library might be another), and some features of the Python 
community (which, IME, has more members more explicitly committed to 
writing clean code) I think do make Python a better environment for us 
mediocre programmers.

But maybe I'm wrong - I've never been paid to write Python programs, 
whereas I have been paid to write PHP, so I might just be projecting my 
frustrations with work onto the language. I've also not used PHP5 much in 
anger, which does look to be a lot nicer than earlier versions.