Alan, >> I'm just too spoiled with VFP and it's mix of native OOP, xBase >> language, SQL language and my favorite - the command window.
> I find that there is nothing really approaching the above on any > platform, we really *are* spoiled in that respect. We've been coming up the Python learning curve for about a year and here's a quick comparison of how Python stacks up to VFP from a VFP perspective: - OOP: even better than VFP's, simple but w/multiple inheritance (mixins) and lots more flexibility; everything is python is an object (built-in data types, functions, classes, modules, etc) so there's a consistent feel to working with the language; a bonus is you can subclass built-in data types; note: there's no visual class designer - classes must be coded via an editor. - xBase language: one of VFP's strength is its huge language with commands for just about everything; python has a simpler core language, but a huge collection of task specific libraries (python's "batteries included" philosophy) that ship with default setup; so you have all the language capabilities of Xbase plus built-in support for working with zip/gzip/tar files, sending (smtp) and receiving (imap/pop3) email, http(s) and ftp access, creating your own web server, socket support, regular expressions, xml and other language parsers (many), etc; all these capabilities come by default, at no extra cost, and are cross-platform compatible. - SQL language: its not integrated with the core language, but you do get the SQLite engine as part of the standard distribution; SQLite provides a massively cross-platform single file format for your tables and it has no practical limitations on size (no 2G limitations); the downsides are that its really a single user file format and it doesn't have the rich set of DBC functions that some may use. On the other hand, most multi-user VFP apps I've seen use a backend database and Python supports them all. - Command window: a favorite feature of mine and also present in Python via its IDLE IDE ... with a bonus that you don't have to remember to type that damn '?' before outputting content - just type the name of a variable (or function or library, etc) and its value is printed to the console. I prefer the Python IDLE command window to its VFP equivalent (really!). Other reasons why we're excited about Python (from a VFP perspective): - cross platform (Windows, Mac, Linux/Unix, plus handhelds like Symbian) - 64-bit versions for working with large in-memory data structures - rich support for threading, external processes, multi-processing - choice of GUI frameworks (wxWidgets, Qt, Tkinter) - choice of powerful web frameworks like Django, webpy, etc) - actively under development w/out the fear of planned obsolescence - many community support options (mailing lists, forums, wikis, etc) - full unicode support - no royalties Now the downsides (from a VFP perspective): - building RAD GUI/reporting apps: its (much?) more difficult to build simple GUI apps; there is no VFP/VB like RAD environment for whipping out quick and dirty applications (and/or reports) with automatic data binding although Ed and Paul's Dabo framework continues to impress. - the size of compiled distributables (under Windows) is about the same for non-GUI applications (about 5 Mb), but applications using a GUI framework like wxWidgets can more than double in size to 12-15 Mb - creating distributables is more complicated than the point and click way provided by VFP's project manager although this process can be automated through scripting Malcolm _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/1237982616.12584.1307210...@webmail.messagingengine.com ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
