My god I hate Eric Raymond’s writing style so much. There are some interesting tidbits in here though that are worth reading.
What bugs me the most is the sneering attitude. So Go is mostly faster than Python. OK, and? So you found a better implementation language for your problem set. Great! Why does that mean that Python is on the wane?
In fairness, ESR does explain that here (I generally dislike him and all his works and thoughts). His point is that python is both undergoing a language split (which I think is healing) and increasingly is falling behind things that can easily make use of parallel processing.
This is sort of true, and I think python will lose share for the kinds of tasks where modern system programming languages fill the gap.
How in touch with the Python community are you? There has been a positively enormous amount of work around async programming, both in the core language and in all the surrounding frameworks in various areas.
I’m not suggesting you’re wrong, I don’t have a really good way to draw a bead on adoption in specific areas where that kind of parallel processing performance is a solid requirement.
I think the “language split” argument doesn’t hold water. Sure, Python 3 introduces some syntax changes, but it’s nowhere near a profound enough change to call it a “split”. ESR just got all crotchety about Python 3 and refused to jump the gap to the new version.
One area where Go does have a real advantage is packaging, and that’s beyond debate IMO.
First of all, it’s entirely possible that ESR is wrong.
positively enormous amount of work around async programming
But those don’t use multiple cores unless using process-pool backed options.
I’ve generally used futures-based concurrency in python, and it works for worker-type cases. I haven’t really used any of the modern system programming languages in order to compare intelligently.
That’s correct. The Python async solutions don’t use multiple cores because of the GIL.
Let me drop back and punt here: What bugs the CRAP out of me with ESRs posts is his attitude.
I can’t think of anyone who’d argue that Golang is a better choice for reposurgeon than Python. How does “I found a better tool for my use case” translate into “The waning of Python”?
Also, what’s wrong with using the process as the unit of tasking? Python has superb support for that.
My god I hate Eric Raymond’s writing style so much. There are some interesting tidbits in here though that are worth reading.
What bugs me the most is the sneering attitude. So Go is mostly faster than Python. OK, and? So you found a better implementation language for your problem set. Great! Why does that mean that Python is on the wane?
grumble
In fairness, ESR does explain that here (I generally dislike him and all his works and thoughts). His point is that python is both undergoing a language split (which I think is healing) and increasingly is falling behind things that can easily make use of parallel processing.
This is sort of true, and I think python will lose share for the kinds of tasks where modern system programming languages fill the gap.
How in touch with the Python community are you? There has been a positively enormous amount of work around async programming, both in the core language and in all the surrounding frameworks in various areas.
I’m not suggesting you’re wrong, I don’t have a really good way to draw a bead on adoption in specific areas where that kind of parallel processing performance is a solid requirement.
I think the “language split” argument doesn’t hold water. Sure, Python 3 introduces some syntax changes, but it’s nowhere near a profound enough change to call it a “split”. ESR just got all crotchety about Python 3 and refused to jump the gap to the new version.
One area where Go does have a real advantage is packaging, and that’s beyond debate IMO.
First of all, it’s entirely possible that ESR is wrong.
But those don’t use multiple cores unless using process-pool backed options.
I’ve generally used futures-based concurrency in python, and it works for worker-type cases. I haven’t really used any of the modern system programming languages in order to compare intelligently.
That’s correct. The Python async solutions don’t use multiple cores because of the GIL.
Let me drop back and punt here: What bugs the CRAP out of me with ESRs posts is his attitude.
I can’t think of anyone who’d argue that Golang is a better choice for reposurgeon than Python. How does “I found a better tool for my use case” translate into “The waning of Python”?
Also, what’s wrong with using the process as the unit of tasking? Python has superb support for that.
Pundits gonna pundit. Being opinionated and cocksure is kinda ESR’s thing.
Don’t worry about what one has-been internet denizen thinks, concentrate on what’s good instead.