[HN Gopher] Guido van Rossum: Python and the Future of Programmi...
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Guido van Rossum: Python and the Future of Programming - Lex
Fridman Podcast
Author : Steven-Clarke
Score : 54 points
Date : 2022-11-26 16:28 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
| MuffinFlavored wrote:
| anybody got a tl;dw?
| yakubin wrote:
| I've watched half of it and there was nothing insightful, to be
| honest.
| timonoko wrote:
| "I am not interested in these academic issues. I am just a
| mechanic making a tool." -- I remember he said this already 25
| years go.
| signaru wrote:
| I'd normally just listen to the podcast version, while doing
| something else. I finished through Lex's interview with John
| Carmack in several installments.
| nnoitra wrote:
| cercatrova wrote:
| Would be interesting to see what he'd say about Nim, which is
| Python-like but compiled rather than interpreted and has a great
| static type system.
| Steven-Clarke wrote:
| Guido van Rossum is the creator of Python programming language.
| bmitc wrote:
| Does Python or van Rossum really have anything interesting to say
| on the future of programming? Python has libraries and lots of
| users and hype, and those are really its only outstanding
| "features". Python really does nothing interesting when I think
| of pushing the boundaries of programming.
| williamstein wrote:
| And yet it is one of the top 10 most popular languages. There
| might be something to learn from the discipline and balance of
| not pushing the boundaries of programming too hard?
| bmitc wrote:
| I don't think that conclusion follows. Yes, it's popular. No,
| Python is not disciplined nor balanced. Popularity is really
| more about social dynamics than anything.
| camdenreslink wrote:
| I don't know about social dynamics unless you mean most
| programs in the world aren't written by senior software
| engineers. Python is easy to understand to write a script
| or small web service. Scala or Haskell can never be the
| most popular for that exact reason.
| Qem wrote:
| I think just by inertia we will end with future languages
| copying Python syntax and spreading its influence, just like
| lots of languages copied C syntax after it got popular.
| doix wrote:
| It's worth pointing out that Python is 30ish years old at this
| point.
|
| It's "outstanding features" were creating a syntax that a lot
| of people can quickly grok (not just programmers) and the way
| they allowed for extensions to be written in C.
|
| I believe it also popularized the concept of "there should be
| one obvious way of doing things", in stark contrast with Perl;
| "there's more than one way to skin a cat".
|
| It's easy to look at this now and say that it's nothing
| interesting, because it already pushed the boundaries.
| bmitc wrote:
| Python doesn't really even follow that maxim itself. Also,
| even at the time of Python's creation, it ignored the
| influence of more disciplined languages (i.e., MLs,
| Smalltalks, Lisps, Schemes) and refused to adopt such
| influence over its lifetime. Guido van Rossum famously stated
| that `functools` is where he put things he didn't (doesn't)
| care about. I don't think that even now he understands
| functional-first programming.
|
| All that being said, Python's age is irrelevant when
| discussing the future of programming.
| lhuser123 wrote:
| > creating a syntax that a lot of people can quickly grok
| (not just programmers)
|
| This. We tend to underestimate what it takes to create
| something easy to use.
| tcmb wrote:
| > I believe it also popularized the concept of "there should
| be one obvious way of doing things"
|
| It's one of the principles from the Zen of Python:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_of_Python#Principles
|
| I agree with your comment, all of these taken together were a
| medium-sized revolution at the time. It's not for nothing
| that Python is the most popular language for teaching
| programming nowadays.
| sholladay wrote:
| Do you believe that AI / machine learning will play an
| increasingly important role in future technology? Because if
| so, Python is the go-to language for such work. Sure, some of
| that is due to human factors and not just language features,
| but Python makes AI and scientific computing easy and that work
| will influence Python's development and vice versa.
|
| Personally, as long as I have a good linter, I prefer
| JavaScript for general purpose programming but there are some
| areas where other languages just dominate.
| neilmock wrote:
| Python did introduce more love, kindness, and empathy into the
| world.
| remram wrote:
| Did it? At this point what it's famous for is the 2-to-3
| drama and the 20 competing packaging tools and standards.
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