Python was designed (was Re: Multi-threading in Python vs Java)

[Grant Edwards]

On 2013-10-16, Mark Janssen <dreamingforward at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 15, 2013 at 2:46 PM, Grant Edwards <invalid at invalid.invalid> wrote:
>> On 2013-10-15, Mark Janssen <dreamingforward at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Yeah, well 40 years ago they didn't have parsers.
>>
>> That seems an odd thing to say. People were assembling and compiling
>> computer programs long before 1973.
>
> I'm using the word "parser" in the sense of a stand-alone application
> that became useful with the growing open source culture that was
> developing in the 70's.  Prior to that you have punch cards where
> there's no meaningful definition of "parsing" because there are no
> tokens.

What do you mean "there are no tokens?".   Pascal/Fortran/COBOL on
a deck of punched cards is parsed/compiled the same as it is in a file
on a hard drive.

> Would you say you were "parsing" on an old digital machine
> where you input programs with binary switches?

No, that's not what I'm talking about.  I'm talking about compiling
Fortran or PL/1 or whatnot.

> But after the advent of the dumb terminal, parsers started evolving,
> and that was the early 70's.  I might be a year or two off, but I only
> gave one significant digit there.   ;^)

I don't understand what dumb terminals have to do with it.

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