[Novalug] Why Python

Karri Balk kbalk@cutter.rexx.com
Wed Jul 24 13:12:31 EDT 2013


I have trouble understanding the resistance to using Python because
of the indentation requirement.  Early in my career I worked with
companies that had coding standards and the level of indentation
was specified in those standards.  So proper indentation was expected
and became ingrained.  Coding standards don't seem to be in as much use
now, although some languages have style guides that serve the same 
purpose.

Indentation also makes sense in terms of producing readable code.
Having seen lots of ugly code later in my career, you appreciate
proper indentation as it assists in readability and maintainability
of the code.

Also, if you use editors (like vi or vim) that have plugins to auto-
magically handle indentation, it doesn't require much effort to do the 
right thing.

Also, indentation has nothing to do with the power or capability of
the language, so you'd think it'd be pretty far down the list of
reasons why not to use the language.

Regarding Perl versus Python - I love Perl's ease of parsing; no special
function calls or APIs needed.  By the same token, Python is OO-centric, 
whereas OO is a clunky amendment to Perl, even though Moose makes it 
easier.  But as others expressed, it's important to use the language 
requested by the company or client. 

Regarding Python testing - here's a general starting point of 
information, although I'm not sure it covers all of Ed James's questions:

    http://docs.python.org/2/library/unittest.html

There are quite of few testing frameworks for Python and there was a
talk at NOVA Python that covered many of them.  The talk was recorded
and can be found here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-QzJstRdwo&feature=youtu.be

Karri



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