OT: Should I learn bash/C/python/perl/other

[Ed Hill]

On Thu, 2005-08-11 at 13:43 +0100, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> sebb wrote:
> > i totally agree with paul, python is the way to go. it has very strong
> > extensions for everything (check pygame!) and is yet very portable.
> 
> Actually, Paul said (while recommending it)
> that python was _not_ very portable.

True!

And, Python is not anywhere near as backwards-compatible as many other
languages.  Old Perl and bash/sh scripts, C code, etc. are very likely
to work with recent versions.  But Python tends to be rather version-
specific.

And this is even further OT so feel free to hit the "D" key...  ;-)

There was a few years ago a very high-profile project headed by Eric
Raymond to implement the Linux kernel configure-and-build system in
Python.  It failed to happen for the Linux kernel (and was picked up by
other projects) for probably multiple reasons.  But one of the most
cited downsides was the not-as-portable nature of Python relative to C,
make, bash/sh, etc.

Ed

-- 
Edward H. Hill III, PhD
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