Python Newsletter
he Economist is a strange publication, always readable - compelling
even, but often its articles on technology read like something observed
from a thousand miles away. It is an interesting read, but it might be
behind a paywall.
It starts with an account of the origins of Python one Xmas and the
role of Guido van Rossum in its birth and continued development. This
reads slightly like a tribute, given Guido has recently given up his
role as BDFL, as we reported last week. There are also some strange passages in the account:
The fact is that Python is on the up, there are now 145,000 packages in the "Cheese Shop", which is something of a double-edged sword when you are looking for something specific.
Interest is also increasing;
The article then meanders on, in the nicest possible way, to describe how many different things Python is used for. It is even used by Economist journalists when they are scraping data from websites - I hope they are using Beautiful Soup and not reinventing the Spanish Inquisition.
The rest of the article, in a section inventively(?) labelled "Rossum's universal robot" is about how Python is used in universities and education, but not really in computer science, or I think that is what is being implied because we are told what is is used for and CS is notably absent. Finally we have a musing on Python's future:
The truth of the matter, and now you have my opinion rather than that of person or persons unknown who write for the Economist which never credits its journalists, is that Python is a remarkable language but it isn't a good example of a clean academic language which illustrates some deep organizational principle. It is a usable language for the 21st century. It succeeds where more respectable languages fail because it is pragmatic and openly strives to be easy to use and powerful. If you mean by "The Future of Programming" the language that is the current Swiss army knife of code, then perhaps the headline is right. If you mean that it really, really, really the future of programming then you have a very narrow view of the computer science world. Python is the new century's Basic in the way that we use it if not in syntax and semantics.
Mr Van Rossum resembles a
technological version of the Monty Python character who accidentally
became the Messiah in the film “Life of Brian”.
This is presumably a reference to the fact that Guido has long
repeated his claim that he was the curator of a mass market language by
accident - well it couldn't really have been anything else, could it?The fact is that Python is on the up, there are now 145,000 packages in the "Cheese Shop", which is something of a double-edged sword when you are looking for something specific.
Interest is also increasing;
In the past 12 months Google users in
America have searched for Python more often than for Kim Kardashian, a
reality-TV star. The rate of queries has trebled since 2010, while
inquiries after other programming languages have been flat or declining
Did we really need to be told that Kardashian was a reality-TV star?
Perhaps as this is a techie area we might have misheard and thought is
was Cardassian instead?!The article then meanders on, in the nicest possible way, to describe how many different things Python is used for. It is even used by Economist journalists when they are scraping data from websites - I hope they are using Beautiful Soup and not reinventing the Spanish Inquisition.
The rest of the article, in a section inventively(?) labelled "Rossum's universal robot" is about how Python is used in universities and education, but not really in computer science, or I think that is what is being implied because we are told what is is used for and CS is notably absent. Finally we have a musing on Python's future:
"How much longer Python’s rise will
continue is anybody’s guess. There have been dominant computer languages
in the past that, while not exactly “one with Nineveh and Tyre”, now
skulk in the background. In the 1960s, Fortran bestrode the world."
So we need an explanation of Kardashian but we are assumed to know
“one with Nineveh and Tyre”. Is this flattery or a measure of the gulf
between us? Wait! "Fortran"? Oh yes I remember Fortran...The truth of the matter, and now you have my opinion rather than that of person or persons unknown who write for the Economist which never credits its journalists, is that Python is a remarkable language but it isn't a good example of a clean academic language which illustrates some deep organizational principle. It is a usable language for the 21st century. It succeeds where more respectable languages fail because it is pragmatic and openly strives to be easy to use and powerful. If you mean by "The Future of Programming" the language that is the current Swiss army knife of code, then perhaps the headline is right. If you mean that it really, really, really the future of programming then you have a very narrow view of the computer science world. Python is the new century's Basic in the way that we use it if not in syntax and semantics.
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