Why did no one invent Python before?

[Steve Lamb]

I don't know about smalltalk, but, for the Windows user, Boa Contructor
and PythonWin provide a good environment.

Is Boa still being developed? I looked at it's SF page a few days ago and
was depressed to see that the latest release was a news note pointing to the
CVS repository circa last year.

 

[Aahz]

Here's my take on the currently popular languages...

C took off in the late 70's and early 80's because it was so much better
than the alternatives, and because it was wrapped up with Unix (about
which the same thing can be said). C really was (and still is) a very
good language for what it was intended for: low level procedural
programming.

Heh. _The Unix Hater's Handbook_ and "Worse is Better" are just two
examples of disagreement with that statement.

http://research.microsoft.com/~daniel/uhh-download.html
http://www.jwz.org/doc/worse-is-better.html

 

[Mel Wilson]

I see Python as a or even the successor to Basic, which was invented over
40 years ago. It was the first 'computer programming for everybody' (CP4E)
language. Basic took off in the late 70s with the invention of
microcomputers and the Microsoft port thereto. Its limitations were
apparent by the mid 80s and so Guido invented/developed a new CP4E
language.

C++ / Python == FORTRAN / BASIC


Regards. Mel.