Alex Martelli wrote: > Bryan Olson wrote: [...] >> How does Google use Python? As their scripting-language >> of choice. A fine choice, but just a tiny little piece. >> >> Maybe Alex will disagree with me. In my short time at >> Google, I was uber-nobody. > > YouTube (one of Google's most valuable properties) is essentially > all-Python (except for open-source infrastructure components such as > lighttpd). Also, at Google I'm specifically "Uber Tech Lead, Production > Systems": while I can't discuss details, my main responsibilities relate > to various software projects that are part of our "deep infrastructure", > and our general philosophy there is "Python where we can, C++ where we > must".
Good motto. So is most of Google's code base now in Python? About what is the ratio of Python code to C++ code? Of course lines of code is kine of a bogus measure. Of all those cycles Google executes, about what portion are executed by a Python interpreter? > Python is definitely not "just a tiny little piece" nor (by a > long shot) used only for "scripting" tasks; Ah, sorry. I meant the choice of scripting language was a tiny little piece of Google's method of operation. "Scripting language" means languages such as Python, Perl, and Ruby. > if the mutant space-eating > nanovirus should instantly stop the execution of all Python code, the > powerful infrastructure that has been often described as "Google's > secret weapon" would seize up. And the essence of the Google way is to employ a lot of smart programmers to build their own software to run on Google's infrastructure. Choice of language is triva. I think both Python Google are great. What I find ludicrous is the idea that the bits one hears about how Google builds its software make a case for how others should build theirs. Google is kind of secretive, and their ways are very much their own. Google's software is much more Googley than Pythonic. -- --Bryan -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list