So, what can you tell me about Python?
What's your experience with it?
What is it best for?
Is it good for desktop applications using Win32/wxWindows/etc?
How's it for Win32 in particular?
And finally, how does it compare to Perl and PHP in terms of productivity?
Thanks Anonymous
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Anonymous2006-01-28 10:22
not much
not much
not much
no
not very good
php is worse, but perl is better
no problem
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Anonymous2006-01-28 11:11
FWIW, Civ4 uses some python scripts. That's the only example of it being used in a mass-market environment for shrink-wrap software that I know of, though.
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Anonymous2006-01-28 11:40
Paint Shop Pro embeds Python too. Python is good for getting embedded, or embedding C in it, but I'm asking about general applications.
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Anonymous2006-01-28 13:39
That must be why PSP went from 14MB to a gigglebillion gigabytes in size since I last used it.
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Anonymous2006-01-28 13:45 (sage)
| gigglebillion. i loled.
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Anonymous2006-01-28 13:57
-It has a C/Java-like syntax, but is different in striking ways. The differences will make you angry at first. You will not be used to functions and literal strings being objects.
-I've written a bunch of things, including threaded web crawlers/porn downloaders and OS X applications. All have taken relatively small amounts of time.
-It's best for *cleanly coded* rapid prototyping.
-No idea there, I don't do GUI's.
-Win32 integration is pretty good, see http://starship.python.net/crew/mhammond/win32/
-In terms of quickly writing structured, clean, maintainable code, I've never used a better language.
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Anonymous2006-01-28 14:32
I find that Python's broken OO model promotes braindamaged code. I encountered this when I was using PIL - Python Image Library. The library itself is OK to use, but when I wanted to subclass the Image class I found myself experiencing difficulties.
Puzzled, I looked through the PIL code and found the problem was the chumps who wrote it had no fucking clue what constructors were for. Their constructors were full of statements to initialize member variables to 0, whereas the function that actually set them to useful values was completely seperate from the class. I could have copied the function and modified it for my use, but I was too disgusted so I learned Ruby instead. Much much better language in just about every way. >>7 has obviously never used Ruby.
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Anonymous2006-01-28 15:03
>>8
That is something strange about the language. It's tricky to wrap your head around exactly how to implement a module/package, i.e. designing classes, member functions, data structures, all that. But that's the challenge of any software development. Python lays it bare.
PIL looks like it was written by some 3rd party guys who could indeed have no idea whats up. But that's hardly a direct reflection on the language. I'm sure people write bad libraries in Ruby too.
I haven't used Ruby, to be honest it kinda scares me. (I've used most everything else, including scheme and brainfuck, so it's not complexity, just this weird feeling it gives me)
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Anonymous2006-01-28 16:09
>>3
Temple of Elemental Evil uses it quite a lot, great game BTW.
>>9
Try Ruby, it's really nice, especially how the iterator pattern is closely integrated everywhere.
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Anonymous2006-01-28 19:26
It has a C/Java-like syntax, but is different in striking ways.
What? No, no it doesn't.
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Anonymous2006-01-28 20:54
I'd find Python's syntax great (I love the forced indentation) if it weren't for the lack of a do..while loop and assignment operators returning the lvalue. I'm so used to while(i=getitem()). Noobs who can't tell the difference between = and == shouldn't be writing code for a modern language anyways.
Because of it, I end up writing many loops with while True and break.
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Anonymous2008-05-01 12:59
>>12
This is the first mention in /prog/ of ``forced indentation.'' [citation needed]
>What's your experience with it?
I've done tons of back-end web development with it on App Engine and Django/Apache.
>What is it best for?
Back-end web development and general purpose scripting.
>Is it good for desktop applications using Win32/wxWindows/etc?
>How's it for Win32 in particular?
The only Windows desktop application I use that I know is written in pure Python is Musicbrainz Picard, which works great and basically looks/feels like a native app. A GUI in Python is not going to be as fast as something written in C++ (not that you'll notice on modern hardware; any noticeable bottlenecks these days will be due to poor design), but it will be a hell of a lot easier to write.
>And finally, how does it compare to Perl and PHP in terms of productivity?
Trolls can bitch all they want about the design decisions in Python, but nothing beats it in terms of productivity. Anybody who denies it is either lying or hasn't used it. I've coded C, C++, Java, Perl, PHP, Javascript, Scheme, MIPS assembly, i86 assembly, and none of them come close. Python's syntax is a stripped down version of everything else, it comes with hundreds of useful libraries, and installing new libraries is as easy as wget/untar.
So, what can you tell me about Python?
The creator of Python is brain damaged, thus the language has some warts which really makes me hate it. What's your experience with it?
Used it for game scripting What is it best for?
prototyping Is it good for desktop applications using Win32/wxWindows/etc?
Python has bindings for wxWidgets How's it for Win32 in particular?
Idk, I would use C# for Win32 development. And finally, how does it compare to Perl and PHP in terms of productivity?
I would guess it is more productive than both Perl & PHP given that Python has so many libraries
Python on Windows is a chore. For example, argv is passed to Python as an ASCII string even though the Unicode argv vector is readily available. So, if you ever expect to work with command line arguments that contain non-ASCII characters, prepare to write your own code that calls Win32 API directly. Very ``unpythonic''.