The "does Python have variables?" debate

[Rustom Mody]

On Friday, May 9, 2014 8:01:56 AM UTC+5:30, Chris Angelico wrote:
> On Fri, May 9, 2014 at 12:21 PM, Roy Smith  wrote:
> 
> 
> >  Steven D'Aprano  wrote:
> 
> >
> 
> >> Although Fortran is still in use, and widely so, it is mostly used for
> >> accessing existing Fortran libraries rather than writing new
> >> applications. There may be niches where that does not hold, where people
> >> are actively writing new applications in Fortran, but they are niches.
> >> Today, Fortran is rarely used for general purpose computing, updated
> >> standards or no updated standards.
> 
> >
> > Oddly enough, my current use of Fortran is via Python.  The scipy and
> > statsmodels libraries use Fortran routines under the covers.
> 
> 
> I'd like to argue that you're not using Fortran, then. You're making
> use of it in the same way that I might make use of Ruby, PHP, and Perl
> when I browse the web 

Yes one can argue so
But one can also argue that this is a 1990s viewpoint
http://oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/articles/paradigmshift_0504.html