Woe, woe is me
Tuesday | February 24, 2004 | 11:12 am
I haven’t been charmed by the snake for long, but oh how it’s charmed me.
Right now, I’d really, really, really like to have Python’s slice operators in PHP.
Once you’ve started using Python, you’ll never want to go back. I’ve learned C, moved on to PHP, and am now using/learning Python for some projects, but I occasionally have to dip back into PHP.
It’s like being torn away from a warm, comfortable, productive world and being yanked into a cold, harsh, world where }’s and )’s watch over a programmer chain-gang.
I’ve been debating whether to learn Java or Perl next, but I don’t want to leave the world of Python… what’s a coder to do?
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Technology, Web design
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Comments
Michael Bernstein February 24th, 2004 | Link to this comment |
what’s a coder to do? Learn more Python. there is plenty of stuff in the standard libraries alone to keep you occupied for years, let alone the add-on libraries.
If you’re mostly coding web applications currently (which seems to be implied), I suggets you take a look at wxPython to branch out into desktop client applications.
Or, in further developing your server-side skills, you might like to take a look at Zope and/or the various implementations of Template Attribute Language. TAL has the advantage, BTW, of boasting three different Python implementations (besides Zope’s), two for Java, and one each for Perl and PHP. This argues strongly that Page Templates are a good skill investment.
Adrian Holovaty February 25th, 2004 | Link to this comment |
I’m with Michael: Keep with the Python. We’re doing our development almost exclusively in Python where I work, and it’s a dream. The more I learn, the less I want to use anything else. Going back to PHP or Perl feels like stepping into the dark ages.
Nathan Ashby-Kuhlman February 25th, 2004 | Link to this comment |
Yeah, well, at least you guys are talking about “going back” to PHP. Try “going back” to Visual Basic (between ASP, VBScript, and VBA, I am sort of stuck with it at work). It’s really only one step up from having to use line numbers (remember THOSE dark ages?). If you do seriously want an answer on Java versus Perl, though, I strongly recommend Java, but it depends on what style you want to code in. Java is engineered to be a beautiful language in an internally consistent, structured kind of way. Perl is engineered to be a beautiful language in a look-how-few-lines-this-can-take kind of way. Part of that distinction is probably just the difference between the greater formality of a compiled language versus an interpreted one, though. All of this is speaking as someone with a similar C/PHP background who’s learned a little of Java and Perl in the past year — but who hasn’t yet dabbled in Python at all. Judging by the consensus here, it sounds like I need to fix that immediately.
Chris Heisel February 25th, 2004 | Link to this comment |
I probaby should have clarified, I’m definitely going to continue to learn more about Python… as one of my projects at work expands I think there’ll be more use for it. And for any personal or freelance projects it’ll be the language of choice.
But at work, Java, for some reason, is the language of choice and some Perl is in there too, so I feel like I need to become conversent in at least one, if not proficient.
It just takes a big leap to get the energy to learn a new language that you know is not going to be as elegant or as “right” as Python.
As I try to mentally prepare myself, a part of my brain keeps saying “Why do that, when Python is sooooo much better.” In some ways, Python should be the first, and only, or else the last language that you learn.
Once you’ve been charmed by the snake, there’s no going back!
If you must pick one... February 25th, 2004 | Link to this comment |
…then pick Java, and also take a look at Jython.
owen February 26th, 2004 | Link to this comment |
I plan to use php forever. That is until I discover something that allows me to write more code, faster and in the way I want to write it.
I for one started with QBasic, then VBasic, then C, then Pascal, then ASP, then PHP. Webdevelopment is definately making me lazy and it’s mostly because of PHP.
If there’s anything I hate it is a delay between concept and first draft.
Chris Heisel February 26th, 2004 | Link to this comment |
Owen, you should really try Python… for a light application using it as CGI is good, and for heavy duty work mod_python is terrific.
Python’s syntax is easier to learn and more powerful than PHP’s (god bless slice operators), and it leads to more rapid development that you’ll see with PHP… at least with my experience.
When used with something like Cheetah, http://www.cheetahtemplate.org/ it’s really easy to have a clean seperation of model and view, while keeping the ability to have logic in your view (which I liked about PHP).