Instead of deciding between Python or Lisp for a programming intro course...What about an intro course that uses *BOTH*? Good idea?

[Marko Rauhamaa]

zipher <dreamingforward at gmail.com>:

> That is why you have very high-level languages that allow you to
> rapidly prototype ideas, test them, and then, depending all the other
> constraints, move them to lower-level language implementations.

Finally an argument to tackle. That rapid prototyping role is often
mentioned as a strong point of high-level languages. However, I can't
remember personally doing that. Rather, you want to use the right
programming language for any given role.

Bash has really concise idioms as long as you stay within its comfort
zone. When you need finer-grained control, a bash program quickly
becomes very tacky. I have had to rewrite bash components in Python for
that reason. What is gained is clarity of expression at the cost of 2 to
5 times more code. And where performance is an issue, C does the job
nicely.

The end result is a system with bash, Python and C components that
interact through the regular linux IPC mechanisms.


Marko