kirby urner wrote:
At the other end, Python gives me a language I can talk to another
programmer in, and I can also run parts of the discussion on a machine.
There are other languages that do that, of course, but none that are
so easily communicated to a "random other" without spending more time
talking about the mechanics than about the idea. I suspect this is why
Kirby likes APL so much, he can easily express large-swath ideas. For
me, APL too quickly becomes terse little chunks. But Kirby and I
program about different things.
--Scott David Daniels
scott.dani...@acm.org
Yeah, plus when I got involved with APL in 1976-1977, we didn't have
Python. This was the first / only language with REPL in my reality,
i.e. I could type at a terminal and get an immediate reply, what a
difference! Same think people like about Python.
My APL is rusty by now, so if someone wants to collaborate with me on
communicating some large-swath ideas in at least partly working code,
I prefer Python. Like here's some "manga code" from the PPUG list:
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/portland/2009-March/000637.html
Thanks for you input Scott.
Kirby
You should definitely take a look at
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/03/building-a-better-way-of-understanding-science.ars
as this is where Python can be very useful in science -- the
"stand at a whiteboard and scrawl and argue" phases. I do it
for computer science, but I've used it to talk evolution with
a creationist -- explaining how recognizers can (and are) trained
to match things from weighted inputs and evaluate-crossover cycles
where the programmer has no idea how to solve the problem, but can
train a machine to do so.
--Scott David Daniels
scott.dani...@acm.org
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