How coding in Python is bad for you

[Chris Angelico]

On Tue, Jan 24, 2017 at 8:55 AM, BartC <bc at freeuk.com> wrote:
> On 23/01/2017 17:34, Chris Angelico wrote:
>>
>> On Tue, Jan 24, 2017 at 4:24 AM,  <breamoreboy at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> The article is here http://lenkaspace.net/index.php/blog/show/111
>>
>>
>> I would respond point-by-point if I thought the author had a clue.
>
>
> I thought points 1 to 4 were valid, in that the assertions were true.

1 is wrong - there is structure, same as in every language. Or if it's
true, it's true in every language. 2 is also trivially true - you can
ALWAYS define variables wrongly. Yes, okay, so you don't have data
type checking, but that's only going to catch a specific subset of
errors. 3, well, okay. But if you get your indentation wrong in C++,
Java, etc, it should fail code review. 4 is flat out wrong.

> Point 5 (memory leaks) I haven't experienced.

Me neither - Python doesn't leak memory, and in fact CPython has leak
testing as part of its test suite. You are *far* more likely to
experience memory leaks in a C program than a Python one.

> Point 6 (libraries depending on libraries...) is probably true in other
> languages too.

And far more so. He says "(because, let's face it, Python by itself
doesn't support much)" - that's flat wrong. Python's standard library
is _excellent_ compared to many other languages'.

> Point 7 (Python claiming to be general purpose) I don't have an opinion
> about.

He doesn't even have a decent point in there. We're so insular because
we think Python is general? Huh?

> But for a big project, Python code can become a big mess very quickly,
> unless there is an experienced programmer to guide the development process.

So... can you name a language where a bunch of novices can build a
huge project with no scaling troubles? Honestly? Get yourself an
expert, at least in an advisory role.

Not one of his points is truly valid, other than the ones that are
trivially valid and true of every language.

ChrisA