In his comparison of Java and Python productivity, Steve Ferg notes that:
A programmer can be significantly more productive in Python than in Java. How much more productive? The most widely accepted estimate is 5–10 times.
Do really we really want programmers being 5–10 times more productive? Will this not equate to 80–90% job losses?
Any developer coding in Python is a traitor to his IT brothers.
Comments
True, True. In fact, we should boycott Java, too. C is the way to go! (Or Assembler? Or just write the binary code by hand?)
Fortunately, there's no need to get radical just yet. So long as we stick with J2EE, and don't break ranks, there'll be enough work for us all.
Perhaps we ought to go back to punch cards too! That will make is even less productive! :-P
Lee
Sure - for small size project, but when developing large systems the quick developing time will be "eaten" by the time it will take for anyone to support the system in the future. Try add a new member to the project team when development has stopped and see long it will take him/her to get "up to speed" on the source written.. You try to find a class called MyClass in the file hierachy of a large python project.....
Python was, atleast I think it was, meant to be a scripting language - to be the glue not to be the blocks...
Lars,
Excellent ideas for slowing down a project! I'm surprised no-one has been able to apply them to Java. :)
What kind of an idiot are you?
An idiot with a sense of humour?
Matt P: yes, if you are in the business of building bigger and better things. If you are in the business of being asked to build things by non-tech managers, I suggest you don't use Python. I've personally heard again and again "oh, this guy did this in 1 hour; other guys took 10 hours" - so, either this guy didn't do his job, or others worked 10 times as hard!
I wrote about this in: http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2002/03/26/does_efficiency_cause_career_stagnation.html
What Abe Lincoln told about people applies for programming languages too - "the way to strengthen the weak is not by weakening the strong" :-)
Bring back COBOL and PL/I on the mainframe and make GOTO statements compulsory!
If my "IT brothers" are anything like "Lars B." who either doesn't know how to do a grep on a directory hierarchy or doesn't want to learn how, then I want to be a traitor!
Python (and other technologies, even some involving Java) lets you address higher-level problems. Thus, there can still be as many programmers working on problems but they'll be getting more done and doing more interesting stuff. Of course, if you're only interested in using 50 factory classes at any one time and thinking you're doing "elite" work then stick to Java.
Alan, if you fear unemployment because of potential productivity boost caused by higher level languages, just don't worry : you can start a new career as a troll.
I can't believe someone would serously suggest this. You *must* be kidding.
To select one tool in favor of another because it will help you take longer and thus milk a job is dishonest and a disservice to your employer and users.
How would you feel if you hired a carpenter to build a house for you and found out he was using a hammer and nails in favor of a nail gun specifically because he could milk more money out of you that way. I'm guessing he'd be off your property pretty fast and you'd have some nail-gun-toting guys in there the next day.
Not to say that Python is necessarily the nail gun, that's not the point (even though I think it is personally). But if it might be, shouldn't you investigate if it is?
BUEAHAHAHAHHAHA
Dude I got an idea. Put down your pipe and stop smoking that SH*T. Didn't your mama tell you that smoking that SH*T would make you stupid. Can't you see how right she was? Hahahaha.
Ok dude. Java = the suck when tested against Python. For all things considered, in about 10 years, Python will blow doors on Java. No? Well you're with that crowd that said C was too weak and would never amount to anything.
* Jonny looks down near his belt buckle.*
* Then looks down near your belt buckle .*
* Jonny smiles and is reassured.
Looks like someone has a case of Python envy.
I took the whole thing as a jest. Apparently Jonny et al don't understand the nature of blogging? Lighten up, kiddies.
man, java just plain sucks. those java programmers just cant take the pain that java is dying and scripted programming languages like python and tcl/tk have a HUGE advantage over java. do java programmers want us to all start programming on 8-bit computers or something, that way we can be even more less productive! ;-) the only reason java is well known is that sun just made a whole heap of hype about it.
The comments by the person who took your blog entry seriously remind me of the Idiocy Threshold concept. It is so good to have one's theories verified. See http://byandlarge.net/scuttlebutt/archives/000016.html
Cheaper IT means more profitable businesses, which means better profits, which means larger investments, which means more business, which means more jobs.
Problem solved. Welcome to capitalism. You must be new here!
I shall take this article with a pinch of salt and endevour to use the right tool for the job in hand.
The argument that Python is always more productive than Java (or vice versa) seems invalid because it depends on the situation.
A compiled language is generally better suited to larger projects, and conversely, an interpretted language may be more productive for smaller projects.
To put it bluntly, anyone who blindly advocates one technology over another without considering any of the plethora of factors involved is talking out of their arse :)
I just started learning Python. I did C/C++ in college and started programming with Java 3 years ago. I thought Java was the shit until I started trying to code a game in Java. A year later and I have a million problems and a slow engine. I took a break from the game and went back a month later to find that I was lost in a sea of error messages and crap that I didn't even know existed before.
Needless to say, I find java harder to work with because it has so many long ass functions names, in so many packages its hard to write more than a line of code without running to the JDocs or pulling out the "Java Bible".
I started looking around the web for a similar style of lanuage, you know, write once, run everywhere and I think Python is it.
How true is that statement, is Python a write once run everywhere language like Java? Oh, and is it better?