This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Python Buzz by Rod Hyde. Original Post: Python at work Feed Title: The landscape. Feed URL: http://www.bloglines.com/blog/RodHyde/rss Feed Description: The technical landscape through the eyes of an occasional indie games programmer who now uses Python as his language of choice. Latest Python Buzz Posts Latest Python Buzz Posts by Rod Hyde Latest Posts From The landscape.

For several years I worked as a UNIX sys admin. However, since September I've switched to a different role, ostensibly as an analyst programmer, which means that I now get to break programs on all platforms, not just UNIX boxes.

One of my assignments has been to test the performance of a new Java application. I needed to be able to simulate data from over 3,000 devices which talk to the Java app using XML over files or HTTP. Right at the start of the project I had considered developing a testing tool using a Discrete Event Simulator and was torn between SimPy and SimJava. I had originally decided to use SimJava, as the guys who were working with me didn't know Python. However, I got slightly lucky, as the timescales of the project got a bit tighter and I was given the nod to use Python on the grounds that I'd already used it to develop a simple prototype.

Now, a few weeks later, we're using the tool to test the system. Once in a while, a new requirement comes up. I'm able to quote times to make changes to the program such as "a couple of hours", or "half a day", and my colleagues are getting curious. I've had questions such as, "how did you do that?", and people who've looked at the code have been giving me comments such as, "doing that in Java would take several pages," and "I can't believe how quickly you wrote the code which talks to Oracle."

Now the last remaining hurdle is to persuade them to start using Python for themselves. I'm working on it.