Can't market Python for "complex algorithms and data structures"?

Kevin

I read Dana's pdf you provided a link for.

I'm curious why this bullet in that pdf is true...


We will willingly abdicate problem domains where:
  · The application implements complex
        algorithms or data structures.

Why are systems programming languages better suited
to handle complexity??? I'd think Python would excel
at these areas compared to C/C++ as well!?!?

CS


On Thu, Mar 04, 2004 at 11:05:14AM -0800, Kevin Altis wrote:
> > From: Stephan Deibel
> >
> > From the recent emails, I felt the need to point out that there are
> > basically two points at which you can sell Python:
> >
> > 1) At programming project startup.  As in Strakt's case, some managers
> >    are open to considering Python; remember many of them know how to
> >    program and have some appreciation that tools matter.  There's
> > no magic
> >    marketing bullet here, just visibility to people making these
> >    decisions.  They might read about Strakt's story (see
> >    http://pythonology.org/success&story=strakt) and try it.
> >    They might have a friend that recommends Python or read about it
> >    in a magazine.  All of these matter.
> >
> > 2) As a solution.  *Before* a problem is solved, people are open
> >    to finding out about ways to solve it.  These people care about
> >    solving their problem domain -- scientific visualization, managing
> >    web content, running a factory, etc -- and they want to hear about
> >    how others have done that.  The language is quite irrelevant.
> >
> > Selling a programming language only works in (1) and otherwise amounts to
> > trying to sell a better way to solve an already-solved problem, which is
> > not very useful, or simply is missing the mark as to what people are
> > interested in.
> >
> > Note that (1) is fairly rare as opportunities go:  (2) has much more
> > weight (the "killer app" concept).
> >
> > This might explain why the eGovOS people don't want to hear about
> > language -- it's already enough of a leap that they want to hear about
> > OS abstractly, the rest needs to be solution-oriented.
> >
> > - Stephan
>
> This sounds like a good time to remind people of Dana Moore's presentation:
> Subversion from Within
>
> http://www.infoether.com/~rich/pycon2003.pdf
>
> "Subversion from Within. Our goal in this paper and tutorial proposal is to
> preach to the unconverted rather than reinforce what some of us already know
> to be true - that lightweight languages and Python in particular are
> transformational and illuminate a path for the future of application design
> and delivery. We note with some concern that the emergence of the Java
> programming language as the "COBOL of a new generation" often clouds the
> thinking of system designers and developers. Too many designers and
> developers simply cannot think in terms of lightweight languages as the
> vehicle for delivering sophisticated and complete systems. This paper and
> presentation suggests a "embrace and replace" strategy for co-existing with
> languages such as Java with the eventual goal of replacing their
> functionality altogether.
> We conduct a survey of strategies for Python and Java co-existence with
> discussion and practical demonstration.
>
> We suggest that in the next generation internet, there is a crucial need for
> Python scripting as the way to provide the "glue" for distributed
> applications, to support fast and loose prototyping, and indeed to create
> applications themselves. Many in our target audience may not consider
> =scripting languages to be first class application vehicles, but with Java
> objects as invocation targets for scripting languages and Java applications
> as a launch platform for dynamic scripting, it is an exciting recipe for
> building rapid prototypes and even next generation applications.
>
> This paper and tutorial session will explain the how and why. In particular,
> we focus on: Java and Python together (Jython) and discuss and demonstrate
> distributed applications using Java and Python via JXTA and Jabber, turning
> native applications into services, and creating conversational knowledgebots
> with Python, ECMAScript and Java."
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> marketing-python mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://pythonology.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-python
>

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