Python critique

[John Nagle]

On 12/10/2010 2:31 AM, kolo 32 wrote:
> Hi, all,
>
> Python critique from strchr.com:
>
> http://www.strchr.com/python_critique

    I have criticisms of Python, but those aren't them.

    Probably the biggest practical problem with CPython is
that C modules have to be closely matched to the version of
CPython.  There's no well-defined API that doesn't change.
This make life easier for Guido and tough on everybody else.
That's the real cause of Python's "version hell".

    On the scope front, given the lack of declarations, Python
has done reasonably well.  Scopes in Python aren't as narrow
as one might like, but this isn't a major headache.
Python has been more successful with the "no declarations"
rule than most other languages.  Others that started with no
declarations, from FORTRAN to JavaScript, eventually had to retrofit
them.

    Interestingly, some of the motivation for
"functional programming" in Python, with lambdas and list
comprehensions, is to get a very local scope for a very local
variable.

				John Nagle