Hi Brandon,
I blogged on that just yesterday:
http://blog.prosysplus.com/2011/02/python-enhancement-proposals-pep-at.htmlPython is anything but stagnant. But, because they are run by developers, they take care of developers. Python 3K (as it is known, from it's pre-release name) came out in 2008. Every major feature in it has been backported to 2.7, until the 3.2 release talked about in my blog entry, so that developers could move over at their own pace, rather than being left behind.
Dabo, the project bringing a VFP development experience to Python, within the last week release a lengthy number of fixes and enhancements.
As for the richness of the ecology compared to .Net: my own experience is in Python. Recently I had to implement a web service that had to be easily deployed, would be scalable, but for which I didn't want to drag in a cajillion lines of code that I didn't need. So, rather than picking one of the big packages like Django, I used CherryPy. 12 lines of code implemented the web service part, including configuration. All the rest is in a separate library, which will be pluggable into the service. There are other great web service libraries, each with its own strengths.
Anyway, I'm really enjoying Python. It is clearly tuned to the developer As the blog entry explains, developers run Python, through a very well thought-out organizational structure. I rest a lot more easily now that my future is not in the hands of a middle manager at Microsoft trying to make sure that s/he doesn't miss out on the yearly bonus.
Hank
>I know... all we need is yet another thread on this topic.... but I must :)
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>Does it seem to anyone else that the open source languages are actually more consistent than .Net?
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>.NET has been through what, 4 or 5 data access methodologies now (ADO, LINQ, Entity, etc.)? WinForms gave way to WebForms which was supposed to give way to SilverLight but now SilverLight is the domain of WP7, not the future of desktop apps. Sorry guys. Classic ASP gives way to asp.net with MVC but then the MSFT implementation of MVC is shite so we go with MVVM or maybe now MVCVVMCMVM? If you were using open source DLR projects like IronRuby or IronPython you have been defunded. Sorry. What, you want to be productive in the IDE? Then go out and purchase CodeComplete and TestDriven and Reflector and blahblah.
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>Sure the Fox can be a bit challenging in certain areas (multi-threading sticks out for sure) but I'll be damned if I can ever see being as productive in .NET for simple desktop apps as I am with the Fox. Being a small shop, .Net solves problems I don't have. When VFP stops paying the bills I'm looking to Python or Ruby. Those languages look so damn lean and sexy and exciting!
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>That is all. Thank you for reading.
