On Thu, 2 Dec 1999, Maureen Lecuona wrote:
> However, I know of several projects using it for writing such software,
> and in embedded systems in VOI applications rather successfully (go figure).
>
> Is Python useable in these types of applications?
As Python is interpreted, it's less common (there is the interpreter
overhead) but it is indeed used in embedded systems.
> For the normal business transactional applications both C++ and Java
> work fine, and are rather easy to learn (which is not to say that
> I've memorized the interfaces to the thousands of classes available
> for both languages).
>
> CORBA is not necessary, but, frankly, NOTHING is... At one time I was
> happy to write ONLY assembler code and would not even consider looking
> at any compiled language. It is a matter of improving productivity and
> adding flexibility to software engineering that it automagically
> provides:
>
> 1. Transparent object location (an object can reside anywhere on any host
> and be invoked as though it is locally available - proxy pattern);
That is cool.
> 2. The ability to include legacy systems anywhere in the enterprise in the
> corporate component framework without rewriting code (a corba adapter is used
> in these cases);
As I tend to work for startups, this is less of an issue.
> 3. Freedom from any particular socket implementation in any OS;
> 4. Object instantiation and message routing services;
> 5. Object serialization services;
> 6. Callback services;
> 7. Secure messaging services (via SSL and other methods);
>
> And these benefits require a very small learning curve compared to the
> level of expertise required to develop all the above from scratch
> at an enterprise level.
True enough.
> So why is Python necessary or desirable as opposed to any other language?
The classic answer: Python, being a terser language, is far more efficient
for development. Brooks' other law being that programmer productivity (in
lines of code/hr) is essentially constant regardless of langugage. This is
why high-level languages have grabbed so much market away from assembly.
Why not look and see? With C++/Java skills, it'd be a cinch for you. There
is, interestingly enough, an implementation of Python written in Java
which allows you to instantiate Java classes in Python. It doesn't have
all the features of the C version of Python, but it is fairly cool.
--
_Deirdre * http://www.linuxcabal.net * http://www.deirdre.net
My three rules for happy living: No Windows, No Java, No Perl.
"I'd love to have the green paint concession on the next Matrix movie."
-- Rick Moen
************
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