Steve Howell
- start using Python in summer 2001
- helped found the group, hosted this wiki way back when
- live in Fremont/Wallingford
current project: http://shpaml.webfactional.com/
Projects: SeattleMoinMoinExtensions, GuidoVanRobot, PimPim, YetAnotherMarkupLanguage
Obviously, I am a huge fan of Python! Here are some thoughts on various programming languages:
Python:
I worked at a company that processes over half a billion financial transactions per year in Python. It's very scalable!
Javascript:
JS is pretty easy for a Python programmer to pick up, but if you're like me, you might not buy into the prototype-based paradigm, but instead, you'll end up writing Python-like JS to get the job done. Here is a project that I worked on, and you can view-source it easily, as it's all in one file. Only tested in Firefox:
Ruby:
Nothing could possibly live up to the hype of Ruby on Rails, but I worked on a Rails project for a year, and I like Rails, like Ruby.
See this link for a comparison of Ruby to Python: http://www.mail-archive.com/python-list@python.org/msg173407.html
Perl:
One of my proudest professional accomplishments was porting about 20,000 lines of Perl code to many fewer lines of Python. Enough said! But Perl was my first real taste of a dynamic programming language (apart from a little bit of REXX), so it will always have a soft spot in my heart.
Java:
I've only worked on one large-ish Java program, and it was a bit of a mess. I don't attribute this to Java itself, but Java's reputation for being heavy is well-earned, and I think it leads to a certain mindset. Having a compiler is nice, but I found almost everything to be easier in Rails.
C/C++:
I use the C version of Python, and I have looked at the code enough to really like what I see (not to mention the end result!). Still, while I understand the decision not to use C++ for some projects, I mostly like C++. This is one of my favorite programming book of all time: