[aklug] Re: Some pictures from a developers life

On 03/02/2013 07:33 AM, Tim Johnson wrote:
> They are no more real than python - I've used python for 10 years
> and the more I use it the better I like it. Jobs are real.
>

"Real" is certainly an ambiguous word, one which I picked to avoid more
offensive ones. However, I don't want to give them impression that I am
trying to pick on Python -- there's a lot of languages I don't like, for
fundamental reasons, and I imagine that among them Python is one of the
better languages.

Fundamentally, of course, Python is not a functional programming
language, though it does borrow a few syntax elements. It is nice to see
Python has anonymous functions. It doesn't have native
currying/partial-application support, though I guess there are various
ways to fake that.

Personally, after using a powerful, polymorphic, algebraic type system
like you get in Haskell, duck typing is no fun. In Haskell, working out
the logic of your program is pretty much the same thing as working out
the type transformations. And you can abstract to insanely high levels
(depending on your powers of mathematics and imagination).

Not to compare Python to Haskell on every point, but it is unfortunate
that Python didn't choose a more "free" system of white space handling.
Haskell doesn't require semicolons or braces either, but it still allows
you to arrange indentation and line breaks in whatever way you think is
most beautiful.

-- 
frigidcode.com

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