Is there a programming language that is combination of PythonandBasic?

[Brian Blais]

On Apr 19, 2009, at 4:35 , Hendrik van Rooyen wrote:

>  Brian Blais   wrote:
>
>> On Apr 18, 2009, at 5:44 , Hendrik van Rooyen wrote:
>
>>> to untangle some spaghetti code.  He did not mention if
>>> the spaghetti was actually doing it's job, bug free, which
>>> IMO is the only rational test for the quality of a piece
>>> of code, because it is the reason for its existence.
>>> The aesthetics are, like all aesthetics, a matter of opinion.
>>
>>
>> Actually, I strongly disagree with this statement.
>> In my experience, there has been very very few
>> pieces of  code that I've written that I hadn't wanted
>> to *modify* at some point: extend it to a new set of
>> circumstances,  cover a different case, change the
>> output, etc...  The quality of a piece of code is not just
>> if it works right  now, but if you can reasonably extend
>> it for the future.
>
> Your experience is different from mine - in what I mostly
> do, which is struggling around in embedded assembler,
> by the time the thing "works" it is stable, and I very
> seldom have to go back to fiddle with it.
>
> On the other hand, I understand what you are talking about,
> but I think that the origen of the frustration that one feels
> when having to battle with some old code, is actually inside
> oneself - the code is the same, but I have changed, and I am
> no longer the same as I was when I wrote it.

You're right about the person changing, not the code...for me it's  
mostly forgetting.  :)  I have found that python lets me re-learn my  
old code much faster (usually there is no re-learning necessary -  
just re-reading) then Perl, C, and Matlab.

As for fiddling with code, most of the code I write for work is for  
exploring ideas in theoretical neuroscience.  Once you have something  
that works, and you understand the problem, the next things out of  
your mouth is "I wonder what happens if this is changed?".  Change is  
the norm
>>
>
> In my defense of the goto, I would like to make clear
> that I do not support its use to produce spaghetti.
> In general, muddled thinking, coupled with expediency,
> is what I think are the true precursors of spaghetti code.
> The goto is an innocent tool that can be used for good
> or evil.
>

as is true of any tool, but I think that the goto is a little too  
convenient for the sloppy thinker, and shouldn't be lying around to  
be picked up by just anyone.  :)


			bb


-- 
Brian Blais
bblais at bryant.edu
http://web.bryant.edu/~bblais



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