It's good to have at least a passing familiarity in more than one programming language, so for I've re-written a small Python script (56 lines, including blanks and comments) into Lua (67 lines), Ruby (73 lines) and Javascript (102 lines).
Re-writing the code in Lua and Ruby was actually quite simple. There are some syntactic differences and semantic differences, and Ruby lacks a standard "assert" function or statement, but that only required seven lines of code. (Three of them "end" statements.) I think Python is a prettier language visually than either Lua or Ruby, but they're in the ball-park. Both languages have their warts and quirks, but if Python were declared illegal overnight[1] I'd probably have no trouble adapting to Ruby or Lua. Python would still be my first love, but these two languages make a reasonable rebound language. But Javascript... Javascript also lacks a standard assert mechanism, but that wasn't too hard to fix. It also has two different equality operators, each of which are so complicated and confusing that apparently there are two-year Masters degrees on them[2], and yet with neither of these operators does the array [1, 2] equal the array [1, 2]. It's visually an ugly language, requiring braces and semi-colons. Technically, some of the semi-colons are optional, and some of them aren't optional but change the meaning of the code if you leave them out, so it's just best to stick semi-colons after; everything; you; can; just; to; be; sure. I know that first impressions aren't necessarily to be trusted, but the impression I get after a couple of hours is that Javascript tries really hard to do everything it can for you except what you actually want. If it were a remote control for a DVD player, there would be a button to turn the volume up, skip to the next chapter, and turn subtitles off; and another button to change the language to French and return to the menus; but no way to just mute the sound. [1] Anything that good has got to be either illegal, immoral, or fattening. [2] If there aren't, there ought to be. -- Steven -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
