This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Python Buzz
by Jake Cutter.
Original Post: Why I want to use Python, but don't...(yet)
Feed Title: Convince me to use Python
Feed URL: http://convincemetousepython.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Feed Description: Learning to love Python...one day at a time...
Hello. I appreciate you stopping by. Let me tell you why this blog is here.
I'm a long-time developer. I have roughly 8 years of professional developer experience. I still read things daily by others that leave me in awe, but I think I hold my own pretty well. In other words, I'm good, but I haven't become so arrogant and obnoxious that the rest of the world look like idiots.
The road to here for me has been:
ksh -> C -> Perl -> C++ -> Java -> Php -> Java -> Ruby
I spent around three months doing Python in between Php and the second Java stint. I liked it...it was ok. But, the profession had other ideas for me.
It's been a fun ride. I've really appreciated things about each language I've used. But I finally found something in Ruby that really clicked. The language was intuitive; it could easily be held in your head, and what couldn't could be found quickly by exploring its very solid (though not perfect) introspection capabilities. There was a bit of a curve regarding rails, but that wasn't Ruby's fault...Ruby was just pretty ('cept for those damned dangling ends).
I really like Ruby the language...Ruby the experience...not as much. The docs are really bad right now in general across the Ruby space (I presume this will improve). The implementation is slow, but I honestly haven't done anything popular enough to feel threatened by it. Many of the libraries I need (eventmachine) are immature at this stage.
Any so many things lately have been pushing me towards Python. First, twisted has all the features I need for the network programming I'm working on. Second, I've read some really good things about Django and Pylons, and am preparing to work on a new web app. Third, Google's release of app engine today provides what I would consider some very strong validation for the Python community and for Python as a web programming language. Woohoo.
I actually started re-learning python a few months ago when I needed what Twisted had, but God help me I choked on the language itself. So many inconsistencies (__builtins__, two object models, .join, etc) that just didn't add up to a language with the beauty of Ruby.
I read the tutorial, bought Python in a Nutshell, read many of those chapters. But wow....I mean, really...Python seems so much more complex than Ruby. The chapter on OOP alone in Python in a Nutshell, including the various types of classes and the metaprogramming "capabilities" really twisted my head. Instead of a language like Ruby that you can entirely keep present in brain "ram", Python seems like a language that may consider a significant amount of "swapping". In fact, I wonder if most Python programmers keep (or even understand) a very small subset of the language and operate in that space only. (which, if true, is complimentary to the language).
Listen, I want to explore Python. I want to want to use it. Right now I'm only driven by the fact that its libraries, implementations, and is widely used by two things I love (Linux and Google). If Ruby were in the same boat, there'd be no motivations to move. If Ruby had well-documented libraries (some day?), and good VM (soon) and was proven in big environments, I wouldn't be writing this.
So, here's my arm...please twist it. Help me to understand why Python is the way it is. Help me understand why people like it and use it so much. Help me understand why .join is where it is. Help me feel good about putting the effort in to master Python. I want to join the community, but can't help but feel cautious.
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