On 20 December 2011 09:11, sawyer x <[email protected]> wrote: > 2011/12/20 Yossi Itzkovich <[email protected]> >> >> Hi Erez, >> >> A very good summary. Another claim that I heard more than once (related >> to your 4th factor) is that , due to Python strict syntax, Python code is >> easier to maintain.
> That's a two-sided coin though. > > Some people think of Python as readable due to its lack of symbols. However, > some people think of Perl as readable due to its usage of symbols. "What is > that? Oh, that's an array, I can see it by the symbol used." In most > languages you have to scroll up, find documentation in comments, or look at > the usage to understand what the variables are. In Perl you just look at the > variable. In Perl, you also have the benefit of knowing what is a variable, and how it is used (i.e. context). To a, say, Java developer, the idea of context is terrifying, seeing if (@array) and not if ( array.length > 0 ) is, to a non-perler, confusing and unreadable, the same way a non-native speaker will feel upon meeting an unknown idiom. > Also, while Python programmers delight in the assumption that their language > is ostensibly readable, it is not always legible. I've seen many Python > programs which were written in a way that takes you quite some time to > understand what the hell is going on. Legibility is not brought by strict > rules of character assortment, but by understanding the context of the > reader. Rules can always be worked around and I've seen experienced Python > programmers whose code I would literally hate to read because it was so > disorganized, so illegible, so impossible to understand. They just found a > way around the rules, as people always do. Like any language, Python code is easier to maintain as long as the usual practices wrt maintainability are preserved. I've seen examples of Python code that is as unmaintainable as any other language. I tried to avoid "maintainability" in my summary. Python is explicit, Perl is implicit. To a Perl programmer, Perl is immensely more readable than any other language, to a non-Perler, it's gobbledegook. -- Erez Stop software patents _______________________________________________ Perl mailing list [email protected] http://mail.perl.org.il/mailman/listinfo/perl
