What minimum should a person know before saying "I know Python"

[Gene Heskett]

On Sunday 22 September 2013 14:49:21 Dennis Lee Bieber did opine:

> On Sat, 21 Sep 2013 02:22:59 -0400, Gene Heskett <gheskett at wdtv.com>
> 
> declaimed the following:
> >I was quite pleased to see that there was a Rexx/Regina for linux, and
> >for about 10 minutes thought I could make use of the library of ARexx
> >code Jim & I had carved up and had running on the amiga, but was very
> >disappointed to see that Regina wasn't coupled to the os itself in any
> >way, causing our scripts to barf and exit within the first 3 or 4
> >lines of code.
> 
> 	No surprise given the lack of real /interactive/ IPC in Windows and
> Linux. A version of REXX running on (Open)VMS might have a chance -- as
> VMS Mailboxes were a (protected memory equivalent) of Amiga message
> ports... So a means of "address other_application" could be mapped to
> opening "other_application_port".
> 
> 	I vaguely recall once using the "advanced" calls from the back of 
the
> manual, and having multiple ARexx scripts talking to each other via
> "address other_script"

We did that dozens of times a day on every machine we owned, which at the 
time was about just in the commercial production rooms.

> >I've seen python doing some heady stuff in the last 5 years, but the
> >learning curve is pretty steep for my now aging wet ram, which will be
> >79 years old in a few days, so the scripting language here at the
> >Heskett Ranchette is bash, and there is quite a boatload of that
> >running as background daemons right now.  So I lurk, reading what goes
> >by, hoping I'll learn enough python from osmosis to get comfortable
> >with it.  From all indications, it is todays "ARexx" of scripting
> >languages.
> 
> 	Having been spoiled by ARexx myself... No... Python will never be
> /that/... Even subprocess.popen() doesn't allow for the easy control of
> other programs. One is stuck with M$ COM (the win32 extension library
> or, more portable maybe [if the libraries are ported] ctypes to do what
> "address ..." did in ARexx.

Then it seems to me that work in the direction should be an active feature 
request.  Unforch, as I've said before, I'm rowing this barge with a 
toothpick for an oar. :)

I would be interesting to see if the "bait" is taken. :)

Thanks Dennis.

Cheers, Gene
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