scripting language newbie - compatibility

[Alex Martelli]

"Paul Duffin" <pduffin at hursley.ibm.com> wrote in message
news:398DE3F2.CDDD1103 at hursley.ibm.com...
    [snip]
> Where was Python originally developed ? UNIX ? Windows ? Mac ?

Apparently, a Mac was what Guido had on hand, Unix the main
target, and perfect cross-platform operation the goal from day 1.

My current Python usage is overwhelmingly on Windows platforms,
and I find it very interesting that Python performs so perfectly on
what IS, after all, neither of the 'main' platforms above.


> I personally think that Tcl is the most cross platform language of the
> three that the original poster mentioned. I have not used the others but
> have spent some time looking at how each language implements the features
> that I want and find that for my use Tcl is a better cross platform
> solution.

I *have* used them all (Java, Tcl, Python, Perl, and more besides), and
on the basis of this extensive experience I find that Python is just "the
cat's pajamas" for cross-platform work (as well as most other points
of view:-).  Not that problems with the others were anywhere deep in
*the languages* from a specifically *cross-platform* viewpoint, mind
you -- issues such as the lack of fork on non-Unix platforms can hardly
be patched at the language-level (I heard that ActiveState was working
on a kludge for that over a year ago, but dunno what if anything ever
became of that effort).  Java may suffer from the risk of relying on a JVM
that's not under your control on the target machine -- with the others you
KNOW you need to distribute the interpreter as well (which you could
do with Java too, but it may be more of a problem).  Perl and Tcl suffer
from not being able to distribute cross-platfom _compiled_ forms, but
I find that minor; and lack of deep/well-integrated OO, but that's not a
cross-platform issue, really.

But really, I'm most curious to hear about what makes Tcl 'better' for
cross-platform work in your view.


Alex