"Chris Brat" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > I've seen a few posts, columns and articles which state that one of the > advantages of Python is that code can be developed x times faster than > languages such as <<Insert popular language name here>>. > > Does anyone have any comments on that statement from personal > experience? > How is this comparison measured? > > > Thanks > Chris >
Personal experience takes two forms. 1. Broad experience with languages, such that doing a single project in a new language gives a sense of the relative power and ease-of-use. Everyone I know who is a strong Python supporter took that route. There was an Ahh-Ha experience part way into the first project. This includes folks who could charitably be called curmudgeons, and people who are truely fluent in, say, C++ or Lisp. For these people the main success factor is that "it just works". You spend time on new functionality, or experimenting with alternative algorithms, not on debugging. Of course, we work in a regression-test-driven world, so we don't pile up a lot of untested code and then hope for the best. Python facilitates that test-early-test-often approach with its modularity and fast edit-run cycle. 2. Write the same thing in 2 or more languages. Due to machine migrations and project redirections I have done that with perl-and-python, java-and-python, modula3-and-python, lisp-and-python. In all cases, python was the second language, so there is some learning curve to be adjusted for (i.e., I understood the semantics better). However, since I've done some perl-and-perl, and lisp-and-lisp, I can maybe make that adjustment. The result was that python was relatively faster-to-develop. I can't give a specific speedup factor, but I sure can say Python is now my default language. The success factors were: a) Once you get the hang of the language (a weekend?), you can write without reference to the manuals. Or if you do reference, it is a quick lookup. No struggling to figure out how to code something. Or to decypher what a line of code actually does. b) The project doesn't bog down as you add features. The language can accomodate new paradigms, patterns, or major functionality. If you do need to refactor, that is easy too. c) Peer code reviews are easy -- both you and the reviewers can understand the code's intent at a glance. -- Harry George PLM Engineering Architecture -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
