Cameron Laird <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: ... > "c = d unless ...": it's possible to distinguish Python from > Ruby in another way. Python is arguably better for group work, > or at least more standard for team projects, because it more > consistently exposes "one correct solution", while Ruby both > admits more stylistic variation, *and* encourages construction > of novel control structures.
Arguably, yes; but in the end any team (or firm working as a set of fluid teams) that really wants such uniformity (and, it _should_;-), can't rely on just the language, but must supplement it with an internal "coding style" guide. It will supplement Python's rules by (say) PEP 8 and more rigid choices about capitalization of names (such guidance about capitalization IS embedded in Ruby, btw -- one aspect where Ruby promotes uniformity more than Python does); it will supplement Ruby's rules by similar sets of style constraints. You can construct novel control structures with Python's generators (particularly in 2.5, with the already-accepted enrichments of generator functionality) just as you can in Ruby by passing blocks to methods; whether you DO so on a routine basis (rather than, say, in a few specific "common modules" that are collectively accepted and maintained by the whole team or firm) does not depend so much on the language, as on the team's/firm's central collective coordination. (Much the same, in spades, could be said of macros in Common Lisp, of course). Yes, Python has a cultural, community value of "uniformity" -- that may make it easier to convince Python enthusiasts of the need to agree collectively on strict coding-style standards, compared to doing the same convincing on enthusiasts of languages whose cultural values include enthusiastic, exhuberant acceptance of individual variation. But I do not think that such "cultural and philosophical differences" as they apply to a whole community are more than a secondary factor in determining the culture and philosophy of a specific team, or firm... Alex -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list