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2004
Silence- Snowflakes
- Paranoia Pays
- Microsoft Help
- Polyglot 11: More C
- Polyglot 11: C
- Polyglot 10: Smalltalk
- Toronto Wisdom
- Exterminated
- The Last Straw
- BT Broadband Trap
- Polyglot 9: Moo
- Polyglot 8: SVG
- Polyglot 7: POV-Ray
- Polyglot 6: Python
- Polyglot 5: PHP
- Polyglot 4: Euphoria
- Polyglot 3: JavaScript
- Polyglot 2: Java
- Polyglot 1: VB
- POV-Ray
- Etch A Sketch
- Slashdotting
- Flashy Lies
- Scientific Illiteracy
- Creeping Featurism
- VidScope
- Saturn V
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- eBay Sale
- Iron Filings
- Gimble
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- Random Morsels
- Exact Change
- Easter Egg
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- mod_deflete
- Ethical Spam?
- Deadlines
- CPU Power
- Fosdem 2004
- Academic Reversal
- Mars Memorial
- Culture Clash
- Watching the Users
- 2003
- 2002
Polyglot 6: Python
18 September 2004
![[Python]](/software/icons/python.gif){kind=icon}
Sixth is Python. Good general-purpose language. If there isn't a language which specialises in the desired task (high-level = Lisp; speed = C; multiuser = Moo) then Python is usually a safe bet. The biggest downside is that when compared with other languages, the documentation is poorly organised and poorly written. The docs are so bad that the only way I could write this application was to disect the C source code. I'd argue that the 'Python Paradox'[?] is actually caused by everyone but the most determined programmers switching to lanugages which are properly documented.
Here's the Python source code and a running implementation of the standard colour program. Due to pathetic programming within the Python-GD interface, images are limited to a maximum of 256 colours. Worst implementation yet, and the one that took the longest to program too.
On an unrelated issue, let's play with fire:
- Python
def maxrec():
maxrec();
maxrec();- PHP
function maxrec(){ maxrec(); }
maxrec();- Perl
sub maxrec { maxrec(); }
maxrec();
What do they all do? Blow up, obviously. But how they do it is interesting.
Python (like the Moo) runs a bit then spits out a full traceback ending with "maximum recursion depth exceeded". Good. One can debug that.
PHP runs a bit then quits with "Segmentation fault" offering no clue what happened or where. This isn't ideal.
Perl (like Euphoria) runs and runs and runs. There's a giant sucking sound as memory disappears and all other applications on the server grind to a halt. Meanwhile the sysadmin is sweating bullets trying to kill the task before the server falls over.
[Richard, don't even think about it. I know where you live.]
