Removing language comparisons

[A.M. Kuchling]

python.org has a page of "Python vs. X" language comparisons at
<http://www.python.org/doc/Comparisons.html>. They're all pretty outdated,
and often unfair because they're written by a person who knows Python well
but has only a nodding acquaintance with language X.

I'm planning to drop this page from python.org because it's so outdated and
no one is around to maintain it. If anyone wants to grab the contents and
turn them into a Wiki page, or use bits of them for marketing material,
please do it now.

--amk

 

[Gary Feldman]

python.org has a page of "Python vs. X" language comparisons at
<http://www.python.org/doc/Comparisons.html>. ....
I'm planning to drop this page from python.org because it's so outdated and

If it weren't for the Python vs. Perl papers, I'd still be using Perl.

I suggest simply creating an "Archive" section near the bottom of the page,
and moving any links whose contents you know to be wrong to that section.
But please, please don't remove the page altogether. Most comparision
issues simply aren't going to change, so the articles just get old, not
outdated.

Gary

 

[Duncan Booth]

python.org has a page of "Python vs. X" language comparisons at
<http://www.python.org/doc/Comparisons.html>. They're all pretty
outdated,
and often unfair because they're written by a person who knows Python
well but has only a nodding acquaintance with language X.

How about getting some new articles to be written by pairs of people, one
Python user who knows a bit of the other language and one person who lives
and breathes Perl/Java/Ruby/etc but knows a bit of Python? That way you
might end up with some genuinely objective comparisons showing both sides
of the fence.

 

[A.M. Kuchling]

But please, please don't remove the page altogether. Most comparision
issues simply aren't going to change, so the articles just get old, not
outdated.

But comparison issues do change over time, e.g. the Python/Scheme comparison
at http://www.python.org/doc/pythonVSscheme.html says Python uses only
refcounting GC, and claims the Python and Jython implementations are
explicitly synchronized. Java performance numbers cited are for JDK 1.1.7,
Python performance numbers are for 1.5.2, and so forth.

--amk

 

[Skip Montanaro]

Duncan> How about getting some new articles to be written by pairs of
Duncan> people, one Python user who knows a bit of the other language
Duncan> and one person who lives and breathes Perl/Java/Ruby/etc but
Duncan> knows a bit of Python?

Did I just hear you volunteer to head up the effort? ;-)

Skip

 

[Gary Feldman]

But comparison issues do change over time, e.g. the Python/Scheme comparison
at http://www.python.org/doc/pythonVSscheme.html says Python uses only
refcounting GC, and claims the Python and Jython implementations are
explicitly synchronized. Java performance numbers cited are for JDK 1.1.7,
Python performance numbers are for 1.5.2, and so forth.

Of course, those aren't language comparisons. They're implementation
comparisons. And sure, some language issues do change, but most of the
fundamentals don't. Perl will always have funky character prefixes, Java
will always have static typing, etc.

Gary

 

[Mike Rovner]

python.org has a page of "Python vs. X" language comparisons at
<http://www.python.org/doc/Comparisons.html>. They're all pretty
outdated, and often unfair because they're written by a person who
knows Python well but has only a nodding acquaintance with language X.

I'm planning to drop this page from python.org because it's so
outdated and no one is around to maintain it. If anyone wants to
grab the contents and turn them into a Wiki page, or use bits of them
for marketing material, please do it now.

Done.

See http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/moinmoin/PythonLanguageComparisons

Mike

 

[Paul Paterson]

A good idea, but unless some volunteer steps forward to do the work, it's
not going to happen.

A lot of the documentation I am putting together for the vb2Py project is
easily reworkable into a comparison of Python and Visual Basic. I don't mind
spending some time on that if people think it is of value.

Paul