[Chicago] Python Hype

[Hana Lee]

I don't know if this really counts as negative press or just idiosyncratic
prefeerence, but I had an interesting conversation with a Ruby developer
who intensely disliked Python (to the point of making a Slack trigger for
it with "Wash your mouth out!" when I brought up Python). His main problem
was semantic whitespace, which he claimed made it difficult to track down
bugs. It surprised me because that's actually one of the aspects I like
best about Python:  it enforces code readability, which makes it easier
rather than harder for me to debug. I didn't push the argument though.

In computational biology circles, where there was a massive wave of
adopting Python after primarily using Perl, the switch was often described
in terms of a religious conversion experience. I got on the boat myself
after being told, "Python makes me enjoy programming again." I don't think
there's really been any negative press there yet, so peak of the hype cycle
is probably appropriate there.

Sincerely,
Hana
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