Is Python "venerable"?

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Tue, 19 Feb 2013 21:45:53 -0500, Roy Smith wrote:

> A quote from Computer World (http://tinyurl.com/bxqjed8):
> 
> "... the Python Software Foundation (PSF) - a non-profit supporting the
> venerable Python programming language ..."
> 
> Venerable?  Come on.  Fortran is venerable.  Cobol is venerable.  Old
> farts use things that are venerable.  I don't want to be an old fart
> (not that I have much say in the matter).

Venerable does not mean "old". It means worthy of veneration. Cobol is 
not venerable. Cobol is *just old*.'


Definition of VENERABLE:
1: deserving to be venerated —used as a title for an Anglican archdeacon 
or for a Roman Catholic who has been accorded the lowest of three degrees 
of recognition for sanctity
2: made sacred especially by religious or historical association
3a : calling forth respect through age, character, and attainments <a 
venerable jazz musician>; broadly : conveying an impression of aged 
goodness and benevolence <encouraged by the venerable doctor's head-
nodding>
b: impressive by reason of age <under venerable pines>


http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/venerable


 
> I use Python because I want to be one of the cool kids, doing new hip
> stuff.  Has the language really progressed to the point where it's being
> called "venerable"?  If I want to be one of the cool kids, am I now
> going to have to switch to Lua or Scala or (please, no) JavaScript?

Scala? That's sooooooo 2003. That's a decade old! The cool kids are using 
Go or Coffeescript. If you want to get ahead of the cool kids, you want 
to look at cutting edge languages like Ceylon. 


Lua is even older than Javascript and nearly as mature as Python:

Javascript: 1994
Lua: 1993
Python: 1991




-- 
Steven