Re: merits of Lisp vs Python

[HowiPepper]

I'll vouch for what Harry said.  I'm definitely not a "newbie", I've
been programming since around 1982, and I am fluent in a plethora of
programming languages, not including Lisp.  I have checked out Lisp
several times in the past, but I always get turned off completely by
the parenthesis you have to use for everything.  What's up with that
anyway?

I had been a big C/Java/Perl developer for many years, but due to a job
change in May of 2005, I had to add Python into the mix.  I had never
even given Python a second thought, but after playing around with it
for one afternoon, I had learned enough to enable me to write programs
that did what I needed them to do.  I now use Python on a professional
basis almost every single day, and I can tell you with certainty that I
am far more productive with Python, then with any other language in my
arsenal.

As an aside, I recently introduced a young acquaintance to Python, as a
way to learn programming.  Since he had absolutely no background in
programming, it took a little to get him going, but thanks to the ease
of use and readability of Python, he is now very confident in his work,
and asks me questions only rarely.

With Python's ease of learning and use, availability of a large number
of libraries, extremely active development community and large
user-base, I'd say the question to ask is what specific advantages over
Python does Lisp offer, to make people switch to it?

Cheers,
Howard

Harry George wrote:
> "Mark Tarver" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> > Paul Rubin wrote:
> > > "Mark Tarver" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> > > > How do you compare Python to Lisp?  What specific advantages do you
> > > > think that one has over the other?
> > >
> > >
> >
> > Thanks;  a quick read of your reference to Norvig's analysis
> >
> > http://norvig.com/python-lisp.html
> >
> > seems to show that Python is a cut down (no macros) version of Lisp
> > with a worse performance.  The only substantial advantage I can see is
> > that GUI, and Web libraries are standard.  This confirms my suspicion
> > that Lisp is losing out to newbies because of its
> > lack of standard support for the things many people want to do.
> >
> > Mark
> >
>
> It is not just a newbie thing.  Even people who are reasonably fluent
> in Lisp use Python for many tasks, and some make python the default
> with Lisp as a special case.  It would probably be fair to say that
> the more you know about a variety of languages, the more you
> appreciate Python.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Harry George
> PLM Engineering Architecture

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Re: why should I learn python

[HowiPepper]

On Sep 6, 5:32 pm, windandwaves <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Can someone tell me why I should learn python?  I am a webdeveloper,
> but I often see Python mentioned and I am curious to find out what I
> am missing out on.
>
> Thank you
>
> Nicolaas

Nicholaas,

There are many reasons to learn Python, and few not to.  I'm another
one of those "multiple language" programmers, and have worked in C/C++
(yes, both of them), Java, Pascal (and Delphi), BASIC (and it's Visual
cousin), Clipper, Perl, PHP and Python (and a couple of dialects of
Unix shell scripting as well).

I started working in Perl back in 1998, mainly for web development.
Since then, I've done just about anything possible you can do with
Perl, and used it as my "Swiss army chainsaw" for practically anything
I needed to do.  I got a contract with IBM, back in May of 2005, and
soon found out the group I worked with used Python for all of it's
"discretionary" development.  I started reading "A Byte of Python",
and was soon hooked.  I spent the next two years using Python as my
exclusive scripting language.  And by scripting, I mean anything from
one or two line throw-aways, to major programs.  Python makes it so
easy to build like that!

My new job, which I started several months ago, put me squarely back
in the Perl realm.  Now I really miss Python!  I've discussed with my
supervisor porting all of our Perl scripts over to Python, and he is
receptive, but I'm not holding my breath :-(  For now, I use Perl and
shell at work, and Python (and shell) at home.

Python is just so much nicer than any other language I've developed
in.  Once you get the swing of it (no pun intended), you will find
you're way more productive, your programs turn out better and are much
easier to go back to six months or a year later, and work with.  Right
now, I'm going through Perl hell, trying to figure out what the heck
the past two guys did and why! ;-)

Regards,
Howard

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Re: why should I learn python

[HowiPepper]

Sorry Nicolaas, I didn't mean to misspell your name!

Regards,
Howard

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