It really doesn't. It's a scripting language, functions are there but at it's core it runs a script. The issue is that it was so easy to start with that people started doing everything in it, even though it sucks for anything past complex scripts

It is the excel of databases.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago (4 children)

What's the difference between a "scripting" language and a "real" one?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

A scripting language controls an existing binary. A non-scripting language is used to create a new binary.

[–] JackbyDev 2 points 2 days ago

Scripting languages are real. Generally people consider dynamic languages scripting languages but it's not that simple.

[+] [email protected] -7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It's a scripting language. What means that the computer runs it line by line, without needing to get the entire project first.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago (2 children)

That is not how Python works. There are very few languages that work by executing line-by-line anymore. Unix shell scripts are one of the few holdouts. JavaScript also does it to a certain extent; the browser starts executing line-by-line while a compiler step works in the background. Once the compiler is done, it starts execution of the compiled form right where the line-by-line execution left off. It helps JavaScript be more responsive since it doesn't have to wait for the compiler to finish.

[–] fruitcantfly 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Unix shell scripts are one of the few holdouts.

I don't know if this applies to other shells, but bash will not only execute your script line-by-line, it will also read it line-by-line. Which means that you can modify the behavior of a running script by editing lines that have not yet been executed*. It's absolutely bonkers, and I'm sure that it has caused more than one system failure, during upgrades.

* For example, if you run the following script

echo "hello"
sleep 5
echo "goodbye"

and then edit the third line before the 5 second sleep has elapsed, then the modified line will be executed.

[–] JackbyDev 1 points 2 days ago

I have run into the problem of modifying a bash script while it is running.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Python still has the -i option, and it still runs the same language as the files interface.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

The -i option is simply interactive mode. All commands still go through a compiler.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

Excel recently added the ability to run python code lol

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

compared with other languages at the time, the ease of access and readability makes it worth it. plus, the heavy duty stuff is usually handled by more optimised code line numpy or sklearn...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Readability? Me eyes bleed from a day of partially staring at python code, and there is a whole another week of that ahead. Tzinch (Edit: Tzeentch) help me

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Like in every programming language, it depends who wrote the code. OK, *nearly every programming language, see: LISP.

You can write cryptic, write-only programs in about any language, but you can even write readable and maintainable PERL scripts (despite people claiming this to be impossible).

[–] [email protected] -2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

As much as I am inclined to agree with this, still can't

see: LISP

Also, see: Python with more than three lines of logic. I could suspect that's just the me-versus-whitespaces thing, but no, YAML files do not get me dizzy in under thirty seconds of reading. Van Rossum made a huge miscalculation here

[–] PolarKraken 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Everyone's welcome to their opinion of course, but I find Python more readable than anything else and I resent the visual clutter required to make intentions plain in other languages. Feels like having a conversation where people say the words "comma", "period", etc.

I also spend more time with Python than anything else and I suspect these two facts about me relate, lol

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Someone should get their hands on someone like me and someone like you and study their brains. I spend most time with PHP and C++, and Python looks like an attempt to write code like prose literature. Very interesting how much of this is habbit, as it can't be just that: reading prose and poetry in English/Russian/Japanese never produced this kind of resentment

[–] PolarKraken 1 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

I would love that! I do think there are probably interesting underlying personality factors / preferences for a lot of this stuff as well.

I do think that many of Python's characteristics map to my own personality and I bet there's something to that. Things like syntax of course, but not strictly syntax, also things like "The Zen of Python", and the way its a "jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none". I also really kind of need the freedom and accompanying responsibility to break any "rules" on a whim (Python will happily let you overwrite its own internals while running, for instance), but I almost never do anything that uses it...

I could probably keep going lol. Feels like a "people looking like their pets" scenario, lmao

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Thank you for sharing your thoughts :)

Python will happily let you overwrite its own internals while running, for instance

Damn, that's cool and I did not even know. Pretty sure I would not do this in production code, but very glad very this possibility exists