Re: Adventures in Quest for GUI RAD

No.1 Python does not scale well.

map<int,char*> x=new map<int,char*>();
vs
self.d={};

Python is 10x slower than C++ or Java. If you do _any_ kind of OO
programming, python is _very_ slow.

I have implemented a great little web content engine based on Python
and XML using PyXML, and it has _serious_ problems with large pages.
I've done alot of profiling work, and over 90% of the time is spend in
d={} and x=[] style calls.

No. 2. Python does not inteface with everything by a long shot
Case in point - no good native MS SQL Server Driver. No good PDF
reading libraries.

I love python alot, heck I wrote a whole web platform in it, but I'm
under no illusions that it's much heavier that C++/Java or PHP.
People using Zope have found the same things to be true when they ramp
up the load.

wxPython is seriously ruling, and you can create exe files with python
on windows too. It's a contender, but it's not the King yet in my
book.

No offence of anything, but I've seen what non-professional
programmers do in any language they get their hands on (Python, Java,
Access/VBA), and for the most part, they should stick to their day
job, and leave application development to people with good CS degrees
who understand what they are doing (not that all CS graduates know
what they are doing, they just have a better shot).

[snip]
>
> And then I heard about the existence of Python. The first language I
> learned voluntarily and the only one I'm still using. If Python didn't
> exist, I wouldn't have done anything related to programming since
> university. Just as I wouldn't use computers out of work if Macs
> didn't exist.
>
> > I should have made it clear that I am just a hobbyist teaching
> > myself in my spare time, for fun.
>
> I'm not a developer either. Nor am I using Python intensively in my
> job.
>
> Despite this I'm planning to spend a week (during my vacation!) at
> Europython this year. And the trip there plus the registration fee
> will cost me quite a bit of money - Sweden is expensive and not quite
> around the corner.
>
> What is nice about Python especially for non-professional programmers:
>
> - it scales from trivial throw-away command-line scripts (<=> Delphi)
> to beyond what you will ever need (the GNUe project is implementing an
> ERP system with it)
> - it interfaces with basically every kind of library, interface or
> whatever; you can use COM on Windows (<=> Java), Applescript on the
> Mac and lots of open source applications use it as their scripting
> language
>
> Consequently, Python alone is likely to get everything done that you
> will ever need in your whole life.
>
[snip]

Alex Turner
netEconomist