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

Peter Cacioppi peter.cacioppi at gmail.com
Mon Oct 21 04:43:52 EDT 2013


Specifically the following seems so misguided as to be deliberate trolling.

"One of the reasons multiple languages exist is because people find that 
useful programming idioms and styles are *hard to use* or "ugly" in some 
languages, so they create new languages with different syntax to make 
those useful patterns easier to use."

This is just profoundly wrong. If anything, different languages strive to maintain common syntax. You can see foo.bar() as legal syntax meaning essentially the same thing in C++, C#, Java and Python (and likely quite a few other languages). There is NOT a deliberate effort to create new syntax just for aesthetics, there is the exact opposite. There is a deliberate effort to maintain consistency with the syntax of pre-existing languages.

Languages sprout up for a variety of reasons. C++ has very significant functionality that doesn't exist in C. Java/C# can say the same thing to C++, and Python to all of the others. 

Please lets not pretend that it's all just ballpark equivalent facades plastered on top of a Turing machine. New languages pop up to automate boring and repetitive tasks that chew up your time in older languages. That's the trend - abstractions automating repetitious and error-prone tasks. 

Not "hey, this syntax isn't too my taste, I'm going to toodle it up".



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