From: Kevin A. <ka...@us...> - 2007-07-30 04:34:45
|
Update of /cvsroot/pythoncard/PythonCard/docs/html In directory sc8-pr-cvs1.sourceforge.net:/tmp/cvs-serv20471 Modified Files: sidebar.php Added Files: what_is_python.html Log Message: added what is python and why python html from old blog entries --- NEW FILE: what_is_python.html --- <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html> <head> <meta name="keywords" content="python, programming, hypercard, gui, development" /> <meta name="author" content="Kevin Altis" /> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="PythonCard.css" type="text/css" /> <title>What is Python and Why Python</title> </head> <body> <div id="banner"> <h1>What is Python and Why Python</h1> </div> <?php include "sidebar.php" ?> <div id="content"> <h2>What is Python?</h2> <p>Python is an agile programming language.</p> <p>There, I said it, so now everyone can stop using terms like scripting and interpreted or high-level that either have negative connotations or don't really get across why Python is so great. Just say <a href="http://www.python.org/">Python</a> is an <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=agile">agile</a> programming language. Note that Java and C# are not agile languages, but that Ruby probably is based on what I know about Ruby. If you use <a href="http://www.jython.org/">Jython</a> with Java that also counts as agile.</p> <p><a href="http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WardCunningham">Ward Cunningham</a> and I came up with the idea of calling Python an agile language during an evening get-together on March 14th, 2003 with <a href="http://search.cpan.org/author/INGY/">Brian Ingerson</a>. We tried using the term all evening and it seemed to work. Since then, I've brought it up with people at <a href="http://www.python.org/pycon/">PyCon</a> and other events and everyone seems to like the term. It looks like we have a winner.</a> <p>Here's the working list for what I'm calling agile programming languages.</p> <ul> <li>excellent for beginners, yet superb for experts <li>highly scalable, suitable for large projects as well as small ones <li>rapid development <li>portable, cross-platform <li>embeddable <li>easily extensible <li>object-oriented <li>you can get the job done <li>simple yet elegant <li>stable and mature <li>powerful standard libs <li>wealth of 3rd party packages</li></ul> <p>And don't forget that with Python, programming is fun again!</p> <p>What is sort of interesting is that while I think Python is an excellent programming language to use with <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/software/appdev/story/0,10801,67952,00.html">Agile Development Methods</a> I wasn't trying to just ride on that bandwagon. It is precisely because Python is an agile language that it is applicable to agile development methods, quick one-off programs normally thought of as scripts, and traditional software development done by solo programmers or teams. Most of the programming world still hasn't embraced the tenets of the <a href="http://www.martinfowler.com/articles/newMethodology.html">agile methodology</A>, but despite the programming style or type of program you're writing, Python will be applicable to the problem you're trying to solve.</p> <h2>Why Python?</h2> <p>Archaeopteryx Software provides some great information pages discussing the benefits of the Python programming language:</p> <blockquote>"Python is an open-source object-oriented programming language that offers two to ten fold programmer productivity increases over languages like C, C++, Java, C#, Visual Basic (VB), and Perl."</blockquote> <ul> <li><a href="http://archaeopteryx.com/python">Python Overview</a> <li><a href="http://archaeopteryx.com/python/benefits">The benefits of Python</a> <li><a href="http://archaeopteryx.com/python/evaluating">Evaluating Python for your project</a> <li><a href="http://archaeopteryx.com/python/resources">Resources for evaluators</a></li></ul> <p><a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/">Eric Raymond</a> explains <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=3882">Why Python?</a> in a LinuxJournal article.</p> <p>Paul Prescod has his own reasons for <a href="http://www.prescod.net/python/why.html">why he promotes Python</a>.</p> <p>Some <a href="http://www.python.org/about/success/">Python Success Stories</a>.</p> <p>Watch a <a href="http://www.python.org/other/python.mov">15 minute movie Introducing Python</a> (68 MB) by some of its creators and users.</p><br> <?php include "footer.php" ?> <p>$Revision: 1.1 $ : $Author: kasplat $ : Last updated $Date: 2007/07/30 04:34:45 $</p> </div> </body> </html> Index: sidebar.php =================================================================== RCS file: /cvsroot/pythoncard/PythonCard/docs/html/sidebar.php,v retrieving revision 1.8 retrieving revision 1.9 diff -C2 -d -r1.8 -r1.9 *** sidebar.php 24 May 2006 23:14:27 -0000 1.8 --- sidebar.php 30 Jul 2007 04:34:45 -0000 1.9 *************** *** 39,43 **** <h4>Exits</h4> <ul> ! <li><a href="http://altis.pycs.net/stories/2003/04/16/whatIsPythonAndWhyPython.html">What is Python?</a></li> <li><a href="/learning_python.html">Learning Python</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wxpython.org/">wxPython</a></li> --- 39,43 ---- <h4>Exits</h4> <ul> ! <li><a href="/what_is_python.html">What is Python?</a></li> <li><a href="/learning_python.html">Learning Python</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wxpython.org/">wxPython</a></li> |