On Mon, 2014-04-28 at 18:07 +0000, John Colvin via Digitalmars-d wrote: […] > What features does python, as a language (syntactical preferences > aside), actually have to recommend it over D (assuming drepl* or > similar became full-featured)? This is definitely not a > rhetorical question, it could be useful to D development.
Principally there are a large number of users and installation and there is a wealth of support for different user bases from sys admins to quants. Python is a relatively small language that is easy to learn. The esoteric libraries can be a pain, but the core libraries do what they say on the can and are easy to use with a simple syntax. People can write working, tested code quickly without having to fight the fascist intransigence of a compiler. Most importantly though Python has penetration in the market so it is a safe choice. This is reinforced by the quants driving "performance Python" so that it can play in the CPU bound arena as well as the IO bound arena of sys admins and Web-related stuff. Ian Oszvald and co-author are just bringing a book to market about all this driven by the needs of the "data scoence" community This is as much about perception and marketing as about actual technical features. There is also an element of Python evolving to fit with what end-user programmers who aren't really programmers need. This is a self-reinforcing feedback loop. Python doesn't have a "killer app", it invaded programming on multiple fronts to create a perception, and indeed reality, of all-pervasiveness as a programming platform. -- Russel. ============================================================================= Dr Russel Winder t: +44 20 7585 2200 voip: sip:russel.win...@ekiga.net 41 Buckmaster Road m: +44 7770 465 077 xmpp: rus...@winder.org.uk London SW11 1EN, UK w: www.russel.org.uk skype: russel_winder