Is Python slowly losing its charm?
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Why I Start Python then always Stop I like a lot of programming languages. C# is my favorite, but I like C++, Pascal, C, Java, Kotlin (more & more all the time), even Swift (very Kotlin-like), TypeScript and I also like JavaScript -- even though it has a lot of annoying things like === etc. I try to like Python, I really do. But there are a number of reasons that every time I start using it again I stop. 3) whitespace dependent. I've hurt myself with this where code fails due to having a tab where I should have 3 spaces or vice-versa. It's annoying. Just use some friggin' brackets. 2) global variables in file. If you define a variable in a file it is global to every function in that file. What!?! Yep. It's painful and confusing and a bad idea. 1) But the number one, knock-down, all-time biggest reason I just can't get past it is the use of double-underscores. X| Yes, I'm a syntax snob. :-\ It's just the ugliest syntax ever and I don't want to type underscores all the time! It's so ugly to look at Python code. Here's a sample from official documentation:
class Mapping:
def __init__(self, iterable):
self.items_list = []
self.__update(iterable)def update(self, iterable): for item in iterable: self.items\_list.append(item) \_\_update = update # private copy of original update() methodIt's so ugly, so I just stop Python as soon as possible and go back to one of the good languages. I was also wondering why Van Rossum (creator of Python) used underscores so much and there are some good explanations in this post. But there is no excuse, because other modern languages have not had to use characters like that. Why does python use two underscores for certain things? - Stack Overflow[^]
On global variables in Python: it is misleading to say, without qualification: "If you define a variable in a file it is global to every function in that file." It is true that if you define and/or use a variable outside a function, it becomes globally visible to 'subsequent' code within the file. It is, however, treated as read-only outside its original scope unless it is specifically declared as global within a function definition. I can see that even the read-only visibility of such variables may be offensive to those to whom the thought of global variables is anathema, but I do not find it so.
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I'm not the only one to think 'Talking Heads' then...
I'm glad I'm not alone in that :)
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No, it is worse. It's syntax is C infested.
I resent that... I love the C syntax. I might be biased because I learned Macro-11 Assembly before C, and there is a one to one mapping on most C statements.
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In my opinion
Pythonis not a toy language (and evenBASICwasn't). That said,Pythonis far better thanBASIC(andLuais even better thanPyhton). Scripting languages have their usage."In testa che avete, Signor di Ceprano?" -- Rigoletto
to get a fixed block read of block X. You declared the block size when you opened the file. We used this for lightning fast Hash Lookups. Extensible? We had to modify the OS to add "sys" calls to a jump table. But we could do it. Now, BASIC allowed DLL calling in windows. And Python allows wrappers of compiled code. Finally, to me the MOST POWERFUL piece of an interpreted language is the ability to EMBED it as a scripting language inside of an Application to let the end users extend it. I wrote applications inside of Word and Excel for people. It broke my heart when I went to embed VBA inside of my application, and ran into MSFT Licensing (OMG Draconian). So we used a different scripting engine that was free and based on Pascal. It worked... But I would have loved for the product to have the Power and Libraries of Python! -
https://towardsdatascience.com/python-is-slowly-losing-its-charm-9ca652726492[^] my opinion: To me, it's always seemed like a toy language like BASIC.
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I resent that... I love the C syntax. I might be biased because I learned Macro-11 Assembly before C, and there is a one to one mapping on most C statements.
They come out of Math class where = means equality, go to the next class, in gentle Python = means let be equal...
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On global variables in Python: it is misleading to say, without qualification: "If you define a variable in a file it is global to every function in that file." It is true that if you define and/or use a variable outside a function, it becomes globally visible to 'subsequent' code within the file. It is, however, treated as read-only outside its original scope unless it is specifically declared as global within a function definition. I can see that even the read-only visibility of such variables may be offensive to those to whom the thought of global variables is anathema, but I do not find it so.
So, in short, it is the Python way of the singleton pattern?
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Unity used to have boo a python scripting language. No one used it though as Unity also had C#. Me personally I prefer C#.
Blender uses python to script its objects. But I for now use Godot since they've included a whole C# support.
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CPallini wrote:
Scripting languages have their usage.
Let us limit them to that. The thing is that lots of people live with the misconception that Python is suitable for general problem solving, of arbitrarily complex problems. Scripting languages are meant for scripts, for managing a process (such as the building of a software system). It startet with Job Control Languages, developed into Unix sh and all its derivatives, or .bat files developed into PowerShell. You may see scripting languages such as Python as a further developments of shell concepts. You would never try to solve a complex problem as neither a bash nor PowerShell script. Even with further development of those concepts into Python (and its functional relatives), scripting languages are not suitable for complex problem solving.
> Python (and its functional relatives), scripting languages are not suitable for complex problem solving. what a ridiculous remark python is used all the time for statistics and machine learning of course it can be used for general problem solving and it can be used for much more that just scripts Blender uses python Django and Flask are python frameworks for web development just read how netflix uses python https://netflixtechblog.com/python-at-netflix-bba45dae649e and they aren't the only big company using python for more than just scripting
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There are so many 'articles' these days predicting the rise/fall of pretty much anything. Most are just 'click bait' and I think this is one of them. I don't use Python, (and I'm not a big fan), but I seriously doubt that it's in decline.
The article doesn't predict Python's downfall either. Just being a bit critical about unhindered further proliferation as prophesied by python fans.
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https://towardsdatascience.com/python-is-slowly-losing-its-charm-9ca652726492[^] my opinion: To me, it's always seemed like a toy language like BASIC.
BASIC in most cases was rather useful...
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I didn't know it ever had any charm. Significant indentation? And tabs / spaces are not equivalent? So you can have two identical looking lines of code but they compile differently? There is no charm here, just confusion and stupidity. X|
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
Yeah, ending a code block by reducing the indentation one step is a really horrible nightmare and prone to errors, especially when you press ENTER around in your text editor. I would stick to languages that use curly braces.
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https://towardsdatascience.com/python-is-slowly-losing-its-charm-9ca652726492[^] my opinion: To me, it's always seemed like a toy language like BASIC.
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https://towardsdatascience.com/python-is-slowly-losing-its-charm-9ca652726492[^] my opinion: To me, it's always seemed like a toy language like BASIC.
Many of the opinions expressed here take a rather narrow view of Python. As one person said, it's like a formatted scripting language. True: but that is a front end for a formidable power-house of resources. It's also a far more accessible scripting language than Perl. I use Python to develop large programs that run AI and Fluid-dynamic simulations. My usual language for that was C/C++, but for me Python opens up the door to accessing massively parallel computing through CUDA and PYTorch. This I can do, in an object-oriented way, without fussing around having to learn CUDA (the modern equivalent of assembler code?). I can easily run 2D hydro simulations on my nVidia card, I can run complex Neural Net programs and, best of all perhaps, I can develop beautiful visualisations. There are several things to regret about design choices in the language. In particular the use of text formatting (indents!) to delineate stretches of code rather than parentheses - that's crazy but I live with it. Upgrades come thick and fast: that's good of course, but does cause problems with backwards compatibility (as in the recent upgrade to Python 3.8). But it's all free - the work of people dedicated to providing a fantastic programming environment. Now programming is fun - maximally creative. Many thanks to all those people.
Why make life more difficult than it is?
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I don't think Python is losing its charm as much as people are realizing that programming is not for them. This goes back to a post I made a few days ago, where I said that the world is throwing technology at everyone, hoping many become programmers, engineers, etc. Python was supposed to be the language for the masses. Only problem is, the masses don't like programming.
For those who realize that "programming is not for them," their time is spent learning how to run programs that others have created.
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https://towardsdatascience.com/python-is-slowly-losing-its-charm-9ca652726492[^] my opinion: To me, it's always seemed like a toy language like BASIC.
I never really got into Python, everytime I try something about it bores me. It seems to me that it would be good for processing lists which is possibly partly why it's so popular in AI: using numerical methods to update all those nodes seems well suited to Python (though I still prefer Java for this personally). Perhaps it just needs more jazzy tutorials to make it appealing.
