Hi Ryan, Yeah, I understand. I mean it is taking me 10 times longer to write Mysteries of the Ancients than it would in something like Python simply because the language is so much more complex. When you think about how many braces, brackets, and other syntax goes into a standard C++ application it all adds up to extra time typing all of that where in Python you can just double space and start your new function without having to remember if you added enough right braces to the end of your function to properly terminate that block of code.
All the same there are some things that just rilly turn me off about Python. For example, the way the Python developers decided somewhere a long the way not to use technical terminology and rename everything to be Python specific. As someone who was trained professionally in languages like C++, Java, etc it really gets me that instead of calling object serialization by its technical name they call it pickling. Instead of calling an array an array they have dictionaries, lists, toupals, etc which just seems weird to me. So that's one reason I said Python teaches people bad habits and would have to relearn terminology and things like that if they take up another language. Python tends to forsake the technical terminology, and other things a pro would learn in college in order to be more understandable to someone without the high priced education. I understand how calling an array a list or dictionary might be easier to grasp than a name such as an array, but the fact of the mmatter is they are technically arrays with a different name. Although, where they got the name pickling for object serialization I'll never know. Its a bit silly to my mind. Anyway, as you said we are both creating games and that is the important thing. In the end how you write it doesn't matter as long as it works. One advantage you have with Python that I don't have with C++ is cross-platform support. Since Python is primarily a runtime language most of your game will use modules like PyGame that wraps some native C++ library like SDL. Since you aren't bound to SDL directly you can install the pyc files and run them anywhere there is a compatible Python runtime and PyGame installation without recompiling. All the low-level stuff like native code is done by the C/C++ guys leaving you free to write your games without worrying about the APIs you are using. With C++ I have to recompile the game, and even sometimes modify sections of the program to compile it on a new target platform. However, since there usually are no handy third-party wrappers for things I usually get stuck using some sort of operating system specific code like SAPI, the Win32 API, DirectX, whatever meaning I have to do a lot of upgrading to support Mac/Linux. This is an issue I'm really trying to solve as it gets tiring rewriting this or that to support one operating system or the other. Most likely after MOTA is done I'll write some third-party wrappers for OS specific things meaning I can just include this or that library during compile time and forget it. Cheers! On 4/24/11, Ryan Strunk <ryan.str...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hey Tom, > > Fair points both, and I can well understand one's bias toward a particular > language. I myself am kindly disposed to Python if you hadn't noticed. For > me it really came down to basic understanding. I hated having to write out a > complex program to print "hello world," especially when every book I read > said things like "Don't worry about the class and void stuff yet. We'll get > to those in chapter 8." If we don't get to understand them immediately, why > do we use them now? With Python, I just type "print 'hello world'" and I'm > done. I love the fact that when I want to test health subtraction, I can > just launch the shell with those particular methods and test them > interactively. It's cut down on any number of semantic errors as a result. > > That said, I'm jealous of things like XNA that have all sorts of sound > craziness that I don't have. I suppose I'll just have to port some open > source libraries and use them myself. > > In the end, we're both making games, and I think that's the important part. > > Ryan --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
