Why is python not written in C++ ?
in [Python]
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From: Paul Rubin on 3 Aug 2010 22:07 Grant Edwards <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> writes: > Yep, I've installed Gnat a couple times with the intention of playing > around with it, but there's pretty much zero chance I could sell it at > the office in place of C/C++ for embedded stuff, I wonder what the issues are. From everything I've heard, it's a pretty good compiler. It does ok against C/C++ in the Alioth shootouts. I haven't written anything in it beyond "hello world" but I've looked at the wikibook about it and that intro piece that I linked earlier. It's more verbose than C, so coding in it takes more keystrokes, but it looks to me like the general coding approach (modulo the extra keystrokes) should be similar to that of C, Algol, and so on, and the results should be quite a bit more reliable. Mozilla is fed up with C++ and seems to be working on its own language, called Rust: http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/node/4009
From: Grant Edwards on 3 Aug 2010 22:41 On 2010-08-04, Paul Rubin <no.email(a)nospam.invalid> wrote: > Grant Edwards <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> writes: > >> Yep, I've installed Gnat a couple times with the intention of playing >> around with it, but there's pretty much zero chance I could sell it >> at the office in place of C/C++ for embedded stuff, > > I wonder what the issues are. The issue that would prevent its use where I work is the inability to hire anybody who knows Ada. You can't hire anybody who knows C++ either, but you can hire lots of people who claim they do. [I'm not convinced that there are more than about 6 people on the planet who know C++ well enough that they should be writing real projects in it.] That said, the last time I looked the Ada spec was only something like 100 pages long, so a case could be made that it won't take long to learn. I don't know how long the C++ language spec is, but I'm betting it's closer to 1000 than 100. But I failed when I tried to get people to use Python, so I doubt I'd have any better luck with Ada. > From everything I've heard, it's a pretty good compiler. I think it's probably a very good compiler. It's the compiler users that are the issue. > It does ok against C/C++ in the Alioth shootouts. I haven't written > anything in it beyond "hello world" but I've looked at the wikibook > about it and that intro piece that I linked earlier. It's more > verbose than C, The verbosity always bugged me a little. To my eyes all the sugar gets in the way of seeing the code. Somebody should invent a language where indentation defines the blocks. > so coding in it takes more keystrokes, but it looks to me like the > general coding approach (modulo the extra keystrokes) should be > similar to that of C, Algol, and so on, and the results should be > quite a bit more reliable. Indeed. > Mozilla is fed up with C++ and seems to be working on its own language, > called Rust: > > http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/node/4009 Great! The world needs one more computer language... -- Grant
From: Paul Rubin on 3 Aug 2010 23:02 Grant Edwards <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> writes: > The issue that would prevent its use where I work is the inability to > hire anybody who knows Ada. ... > That said, the last time I looked the Ada spec was only something like > 100 pages long, so a case could be made that it won't take long to > learn. Well, I don't know Ada (I've read about it but not written actual code), so maybe I shouldn't be the one saying this, but geez, it's another imperative, procedural language, like Algol or Pascal or even C. Its type is much more serious than C's but shouldn't be a problem for anyone who uses C++ or Java generics. It also has a real module system unlike more commonly used languages, but 1) that part seems easy to understand; and 2) usually that's used for multi-programmer projects, so as long as there's some reasonable proportion of experienced users on the team, the inter-module interfaces should be sensible and less experienced users can just program to existing interfaces and/or get some help from others. Ada's module system is much simpler than (say) ML's. > I don't know how long the C++ language spec is, but I'm > betting it's closer to 1000 than 100. I don't know about an official spec. Stroustrup's "The C++ programming language" is about 1000 pp, but it's a textbook, with lots of examples, exercises, etc. I read through an earlier (shorter) edition in a couple of evenings a long time ago and it all made sense. It has some hairy aspects like the notorious template metaprogramming, but most users simply won't get involved with that. Python has its own obscure and confusing features if that matters. I think I'm a reasonably good Python programmer but I've never written a special metaclass and wouldn't really know how to.
From: sturlamolden on 3 Aug 2010 23:08 On 4 Aug, 04:41, Grant Edwards <inva...(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: > The issue that would prevent its use where I work is the inability to > hire anybody who knows Ada. You can't hire anybody who knows C++ > either, but you can hire lots of people who claim they do. That is very true.
From: Carl Banks on 3 Aug 2010 23:37
On Aug 3, 7:07 pm, Paul Rubin <no.em...(a)nospam.invalid> wrote: > Mozilla is fed up with C++ and seems to be working on its own language, > called Rust: > > http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/node/4009 That looks much better than Go. It's like all the cool features of Go without the annoying polemics. I'm starting to get the feeling one of these languages is going to hit a sweet spot and turn C into the next Cobol. Carl Banks |