[python-advocacy] The language for the rest of us?

[Stephan Deibel]

On Mon, 15 Jan 2007, Roy Smith wrote:
> Digg featured an interview with Bjarne Stroustrup about C++ today.  The
> full article is at http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000768.html,
> but here's a nice quote:
> 
> "I think [making computer languages easier for average people] would be
> misguided. The idea of programming as a semiskilled task, practiced by
> people with a few months' training, is dangerous. We wouldn't tolerate
> plumbers or accountants that poorly educated. We don't have as an aim that
> architecture (of buildings) and engineering (of bridges and trains) should
> become more accessible to people with progressively less training. Indeed,
> one serious problem is that currently, too many software developers are
> undereducated and undertrained."
> 
> Basicly, what he's saying is "I dont mind that C++ is hard, because
> programming is supposed to be hard and if you're not good enough to code
> in C++, you shouldn't be coding".  That's the kind of elitist attitude
> Python rails (if I may use that word on this list) against.  Maybe Python
> is the "programming language for the rest of us".

That's interesting.  Thanks for posting this link.

I think we all know Stroustrup's argument is silly -- the real
question to me is how this industry gets away with purposely
choosing tools that make it harder, more expensive, and often
impossible to get the work done.  Of course the answer is there's
money to be made doing that.

I wonder if Ruby, once embraced by the IT racket, will get loaded
up with all sorts of architectural methodology patent medicine
whizgig stuff that ruins it.  It seems almost inevitable.  
Perhaps that's a reason not to try too hard to get Python 
positioned in the same way.

Sigh.  I'm still hoping that some day choosing software
development tools will become a rational endeavor.  Meanwhile,
it's apparently a sign of professional skill to frame up a house
with a 5 ounce hammer.  Tap tap tap tap...  I should get this
nail in by the end of the day.

- Stephan