age of Python programmers

[John Hunter]

Roel> I thought it would be fairly obvious, but I added labels
Roel> anyway. I'm not satisfied with there positioning though, and
Roel> I don't know how to correct it (it's the first time ever I
Roel> use matplotlib).

How would you like them to be different? They look pretty good to
me....

JDH

 

[Javier Ruere]

One thing I've always kind of wondered is what is the average age of a
Python programmer?? What age groups use Python?? Something to think
about....

I'm 23.

Javier

 

[Bryan]

One thing I've always kind of wondered is what is the average age of a
Python programmer?? What age groups use Python?? Something to think
about....

i'm 37... started programing on a TRS-80 Model I and III. i also did a bit a programming on a VIC-20... brownie points
for anyone who can remember how many text characters there was in one row... believe it or not, i can remember this
eventhough i'm not OLD like some of those on this list, i did get to program BASIC with punch cards in my 8th grade math
class.

bryan

 

[Peter Hansen]

Peter Hansen wrote (about "quantum"):

Such things are only the result of a misunderstanding of the word some
time ago. Even though it is wrong, it has become common use, thus the
incorrect definition definition(s).

Whatever... the point is that you can be prescriptive or descriptive
about the meanings of words... and *descriptively speaking*, it is
used as "large" and at least one dictionary accurately notes that
fact. Nobody really cares whether it results from a misunderstanding
or mistake... if they did, Americans would properly use "fewer"
in all those cases where they now use "less" incorrectly.

-Peter

 

[Peter Hansen]

i'm 37... started programing on a TRS-80 Model I and III. i also did a
bit a programming on a VIC-20... brownie points for anyone who can
remember how many text characters there was in one row...

23! ... freakin' weird little machine that was...

believe it or not, i can remember this
> eventhough i'm not OLD like some of those on
this list, i did get to program BASIC with punch cards in my 8th grade
math class.

-Peter

 

[Paddy McCarthy]

Hi, I'm 44,
Male, Partnered for life to Maggie and have two sprogs Owen 7 and
Guinan 9.

I started Programming because at 15 I liked to go to the Trent Polly
library where I learnt that High School kids had access to their DEC
Mini. I snuck down to the teletypes and wrote my first programs in
Basic. (I'm still bitter that the Computer was open to all schools but
it seemed that only the High school new about it ;-)

After that I learnt all about electrons, holes, migration, doping,
(yawn) You can say I learnt much more about the hardware than was
neccessary!

Along the way I was a Pascal bigot but got over that once they
standardised C, A C programmer, A C++ avoider,a forth dabbler, an AWK
expert, A Cadence SKILL expert - (marry Lisp to optional infix
notation and you end up with a very good language), Oh and I wrote my
own interpreter (in C on an Acorn RiscPC),
Over the years I have come to realise the one true editor is vi but
you must include its clones, and you must also admit that other
editors have their strong points. (apart from EMACS which is to be
avoided

I also do perl and like a lot of people here - its for work only.

Ideally I'd do most of my programming in AWK for small scripts, Python
for as much as is comfortable, C when neccessary, SKILL for nostalgia,
and others for unique capabilities, e.g. there is no constrained
random-generation of integers in Python for it to be used in testing
Digital ICs.

I'm carefully monitoring the kids and as soon as they show that sparc
of interest, I'll back off for fear of putting them off programming
for life


Cheers, Pad.

 

[Roel Schroeven]

Roel> I thought it would be fairly obvious, but I added labels
Roel> anyway. I'm not satisfied with there positioning though, and
Roel> I don't know how to correct it (it's the first time ever I
Roel> use matplotlib).

How would you like them to be different? They look pretty good to
me....

Hm, it seems to be better now, after some unrelated changes. Yesterday
'Age' was positioned too high, almost on the same height as the numbers
indicating the age.

 

[Ian J Cottee]

How about labels for the axes as well.



You're aware that a quantum leap means a extremely small leap, right?

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=quantum leap

A dramatic advance, especially in knowledge or method, as in
Establishing a central bank represents a quantum leap in this small
country's development. This term originated as quantum jump in the
mid-1900s in physics, where it denotes a sudden change from one energy
state to another within an atom. Within a decade it was transferred to
other advances, not necessarily sudden but very important ones.

Ian

 

[Ian J Cottee]

37

Been using Python for three years I'd guess. Learnt it in order to try
and understand Zope better

Ian

 

[Peter Otten]

You're aware that a quantum leap means a extremely small leap, right?

(from a random walk through the internet)

size [m] jumps [m] ratio
man 2 8 4(*)
grasshopper 2e-2 4e-1(*) 20
electron 2*3e-15 5e-11 (Bohr radius) 8000(*)

(*) my calculation

That's one small step for electricity, one giant leap for an electron...
Based on the above evidence a 10m Python should jump 80 kilometers (50
miles), so beware...

Peter

 

[Curt]

True, but this doesn't change the definition of the word.

from dictionary.reference.com:
The smallest amount of a physical quantity that can exist independently,
especially a discrete quantity of electromagnetic radiation.

That's the definition of the word "quantum"; it is not the definition of the
expression "quantum leap".

curty@einstein:~$ dict "quantum leap"

1 definition found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

quantum leap
n : a sudden large increase or advance; "this may not insure
success but it will represent a quantum leap from last
summer" [syn: {quantum jump}]

 

[Paul Foley]

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=quantum leap

A dramatic advance, especially in knowledge or method, as in
Establishing a central bank represents a quantum leap in this small
country's development.

Establishing a central bank could hardly be called an advance,
dramatic or otherwise!

--
The State is the great fiction by which everyone seeks to live at the
expense of everyone else. -- Frédéric Bastiat

(setq reply-to
(concatenate 'string "Paul Foley " "<mycroft" '(#\@) "actrix.gen.nz>"))

 

[Dominic]

I am 25 years old and I use Python at least since version 1.5.
I have started programming on the Atari 1024STFM
with ST- and Omikron-Basic.
Later on the PC I used:
Power Basic|Quick Basic
Turbo Pascal|Assembler
Borland C/C++

Today I usually use Python and C (gcc,mingw).

Ciao,
Dominic

 

[Reid Nichol]

from which we conclude that "check the definition" means "check the

definition in the dictionary *I* prefer. . .AND stop reading before it
contradicts the position I espouse."

Look, given the use of "quantum" in quantum physics it's reasonable to
expect the word to mean something small - but insisting it must do so
is flat-out wrong. For one thing this isn't Gell-Mann appropriating a
nonsense word - "quark" - from Joyce; "quantum" was a perfectly good
English word before Planck applied it to black-body radiation. The OED
has references going back to 1619 as a synonym for quantity. (It even
has a use in pharmacology - "quant. suff!", famously chanted in Alfred
Bester's /The Stars My Destination/, is an abbreviation of "quantum
sufficit," roughly "as much as necessary.)

I have my opinion, you have yours. Why get your pantyhose in a bunch.
I made mention of my reasoning that you didn't touch on, you just got
agressive straight away... why am I replying?

 

[Reid Nichol]

or mistake... if they did, Americans would properly use "fewer"
in all those cases where they now use "less" incorrectly.

-Peter

I lived in the US for a chunk of time (Berkeley). Let's not get into
how the Americans have butchered the english language.

 

[Reid Nichol]

@Ian J Cottee:

Perhaps you should read some of my earlier posts.

 

[Reid Nichol]

Reid Nichol wrote:

You're aware that a quantum leap means a extremely small leap, right?

(from a random walk through the internet)

size [m] jumps [m] ratio
man 2 8 4(*)
grasshopper 2e-2 4e-1(*) 20
electron 2*3e-15 5e-11 (Bohr radius) 8000(*)

(*) my calculation

That's one small step for electricity, one giant leap for an electron...
Based on the above evidence a 10m Python should jump 80 kilometers (50
miles), so beware...

Peter

LOL!

 

[Alan Gauld]

OK, I'll play...

I'm 46, started programming in 74 in BASIC (dunno what machine,
it was located at the local university and we downloaded the
programs from a teletype over a modem(120 baud) and got back
printouts 3 days later...)

Next I encountered the Sinclair ZX81 in 1981 (Timex in the USA)
where I wrote my first stock control application for a friend's
business!

In 1982 I started entering patches to a Marconi Telex switch in
Coral via a BBC Micro running a terminal emulator. I only
realised that later, I actually thought I was programming
the BBC at the time!!

Then in 1984 I got formal training in Pascal, Assembler, C, Lisp
and Smalltalk. I've been a software engineer ever since and came
across Python in 1997 when a colleague pointed me at it after I
complained about the Perl syntax I was using to write a CGI
script.

I now use Python mainly for prototyping design ideas and
exploring the interfaces of our networked server applications
before writing specs for our offshore programmers to write in C++
or Java.

Alan G.
Author of the Learn to Program website
http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld

 

[Roy Smith]

I'm 46, started programming in 74 in BASIC (dunno what machine,
it was located at the local university and we downloaded the
programs from a teletype over a modem(120 baud) and got back
printouts 3 days later...)

Basic in 1974 sounds just like where I got started. We had a teletype
too (the modem was 110 baud, BTW, not 120), but we were connected to
another regional high school's time sharing system (an HP-3000, IIRC),
so we got our stuff immediately. Oh, oh, oh, oh, stayin' on-line,
stayin' on-line!

Since then, I've done Fortran, lisp, a few different flavors of
assembler, C, C++, Java, HyperCard/SuperCard, TCL, Perl, Postscript
(yes, it's a real programming language) and of course Python. Oh, and
NewtonTalk. How could I forget NewtonTalk And a few different HP
calculator languages.

 

[Steven Rumbalski]

One thing I've always kind of wondered is what is the average age of a
Python programmer??

I may as well get in on the game. I'm 31 and started programming when I was
26 in c++. I was intrigued by python, but was wooed by the marketability
of java and learned it in 2000. I finally learned python in 2001 and have
never looked back.

Programming is a hobby for me--I wish it were more than that. I am a
customer service rep in real life.

Steven Rumbalski