Hallöchen!
Dave Parker writes:
> [...]
>
> Perhaps. Flaming Thunder is only $19.95 per year for an
> individual (and even less per individual for site licenses), which
> is less than the cost of just one book on Python.
First of all: Although I consider myself part of the Free Software
community, I have no problems at all with such a licence model.
But ...
> [...]
>
> Plus, me getting paid to work on Flaming Thunder is far more
> motivating than me not getting paid to work on Python. This
> weekend, Python users will still be debating how to fix
> awkwardnesses in the languages (such as FOR loops where you're
> just counting the loops and not referencing the loop variable) --
> but Flaming Thunder users will be getting work done using the
> REPEAT n TIMES constructs that I'll be implementing.
Well, this is besides the point in my opinion. First, what you
consider a wart may be loved by someone else. I for example would
consider a "REPEAT n TIMES" feature as Ruby offers it (and soon FT
apparently) ugly because it is superfluous.
And secondly, *every* language has their warts. So many languages
start as clean babies because they offer little and focus on a
specific domain. But grown up, they include the same dirty tricks
and suprising corners as the big languages.
For me being a physicist and a hobby programmer, FT still is a toy
language. Cute but titchy. It surely has its applications, but if
you produce pocket calculators, don't tell a computer manufacturer
that your machines are much simpler to use. Instead, both things
simply have their purposes.
> Python has been around about 15 years, yet still has those
> awkwardnesses. Flaming Thunder has been out less than 6 months
> and those awkwardnesses are already getting fixed. The
> difference: I can't afford to ignore users.
Really, the Python developers listen *very* carefully what the users
want. Of course, the response time in Python is months rather than
days, which has turned out to be a good thing more than once.
Tschö,
Torsten.
--
Torsten Bronger, aquisgrana, europa vetus
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