Who uses Python?

[Neil Cerutti]

I mean other than sysadmins, programmers, and web-site
developers?

I manage the database application, data integration, and
reporting for a financial aid office, and I use Python every day.
Though I only seldom have to write new programs or update my old
ones.

I use it to shuffle and sort important files around, to convert
reports into formats necessary for various import and export
functions, to reconcile data between database systems, and to
maintain little text databases for various business processes.

The only "programming language" I use more often is Excel
(VLOOKUP and Pivot Tables specifically). Python can replace any
individual Excel application, but I use Excel for a bunch of
one-timers, for which I find it more convenient. Python enters
the picture when I find something that I need to do frequently,
and with similar data inputs and outputs.

 

[walterbyrd]

I tend to agree with some earlier poster that if you use Python you
are, in a sense, a programmer )

Yes, in a sense. But, in another sense, that is sort of like saying
that people who post on message boards are "writers."

I should have been more clear, when I posted "programmers" I meant
"professional programmers" i.e. people who develop software
applications for a living.

I am getting the idea that most python "programmers" use python more
like a tool, rather than as their primary specialization. In other
words, python is usually not the primary specialization. I think this
is different than other languages, such as Java, or even PHP. Few
python users are specifically "python programmers" rather, they are
data analysts, scientists, etc. who use python in the same way that
some might use excel - as a tool.

BTW: I am seriously impressed with the stuff that many here are doing
with python. And I would like to thank those who responded to my
post.

 

[sjdevnull]

Yes, in a sense. But, in another sense, that is sort of like saying
that people who post on message boards are "writers."

I should have been more clear, when I posted "programmers" I meant
"professional programmers" i.e. people who develop software
applications for a living.

I am getting the idea that most python "programmers" use python more
like a tool, rather than as their primary specialization. In other
words, python is usually not the primary specialization. I think this
is different than other languages, such as Java, or even PHP.

Good professional programmers don't have a single language. That's
true even of Java programmers. PHP is an odd case; there are good PHP
programmers, but there's also a large group of people who aren't
really trained as programmers at all (despite writing PHP for a
living) for whom it's the only language they kind-of know. The same
thing exists in other languages, but in my experience it's a fair bit
more common in the PHP world.

Few python users are specifically "python programmers" rather, they are
data analysts, scientists, etc. who use python in the same way that

FWIW, the majority of my paid work day is spent developing Python code
(or doing ancillary work common to all software projects--gathering
requirements, design, testing, etc), and it's the 3rd job in a row
(going back to 1999) where I've done a significant amount of Python
coding for work. The prior two also involved a fair amount of C,
Java, and Perl as well.

I wouldn't call myself specifically a "Python programmer", but I
wouldn't have called myself specifically a "C programmer" 10 years
ago--and when I'm hiring, it's much more important to me to find a
good programmer than to find a programmer who knows Python (or
whatever other system is in use). Programming as a skill is largely
independent of any single language, but that's not a Python-centric
statement.

 

[Cameron Laird]

Industrial control and alarm annunciation

.
.
.
Python can be *great* in these roles. A couple of us launched
<URL: http://www.engcorp.com/acf/RecentChanges > to promote
co-operation in the area. While the Wiki has been moribund this
year, it would take little to bring it alive again.

 

[Stef Mientki]

Yes, in a sense. But, in another sense, that is sort of like saying
that people who post on message boards are "writers."

I should have been more clear, when I posted "programmers" I meant
"professional programmers" i.e. people who develop software
applications for a living.

I've heard that 80% of what google is doing, is done in Python ;-)

I use Python as a replacement for MatLab,
and intend to use it as replacement for Delphi, AutoIt, PHP, VB.
And I'ld love to use it as a replacement for micro controller programming.
The hardest to replace language is Delphi.
And all the work I perform with these languages is paid ;-)
The compagnies that only uses Python is growing.

cheers,
Stef

 

[Klaas]

I mean other than sysadmins, programmers, and web-site developers?

I have heard of some DBAs who use a lot of python.

I suppose some scientists. I think python is used in bioinformatics. I
think some math and physics people use python.

I suppose some people use python to learn "programming" in general.
Python would do well as a teaching language.

I would think that python would be a good language for data analysis.

Anything else? Finance? Web-analytics? SEO? Digital art?

Large-scale distributed systems...

-Mike

 

[tleeuwenburg]

I'm one of the exceptions to this rule. My primary
work product is Python code. I'm not using Python
code to solve scientific problems, model data, etc.,
Instead, I'm writing code that will hopefully execute
without failure long after I've written it.

I'm basically writing Python code that moves the data
from here to there much faster than a human could move
the data.

Which isn't to say that I don't also use Python as a
tool. I do write plenty of throwaway Python programs
where working Python code is not the end goal; it's
the data analysis, getting an invoice out, etc. that
really matters.

Also, I'm lucky enough to specialize in Python now,
but like many of the previous folks that replied to
you, I have backgrounds in other languages. At my
current job I still spent about 3 to 5 percent of my
time maintaining legacy C/C++ code.

____________________________________________________________________________________
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I know loads of people doing Real Software Development, myself
included, who work primarily with Python on a professional basis.
(loads means > 10 here) In fact, most programmers I know personally
use Python.

I am lucky enough to work exclusively in Python.

Cheers,
-T

 

[Vijayendra Bapte]

I mean other than sysadmins, programmers, and web-site developers?

I have heard of some DBAs who use a lot of python.

I suppose some scientists. I think python is used in bioinformatics. I
think some math and physics people use python.

I suppose some people use python to learn "programming" in general.
Python would do well as a teaching language.

I would think that python would be a good language for data analysis.

Anything else? Finance? Web-analytics? SEO? Digital art?

Python is a rapid application development language..we uses it every
where..
in web application development..GUI development..Automation/Regression
test-suite
development..Text/XML processing..website Scrapping/
Scrawling..Gaming..etc..

 

[Grant Edwards]

Python is a rapid application development language..we uses it
every where.. in web application development..GUI
development..Automation/Regression test-suite
development..Text/XML processing..website Scrapping

Boy, do I know some web sites that need to be scrapped.

 

[Hendrik van Rooyen]

I use Python as a replacement for MatLab,
and intend to use it as replacement for Delphi, AutoIt, PHP, VB.
And I'ld love to use it as a replacement for micro controller programming.

If you have a little sub - 64k micro this is not really practical.

What we have done is to define a limited virtual machine with
a simple "assembler" language and used Python to write the
"compiler" for it.

Then you have to write the interpreter for the virtual machine
in the native micro's code - Either using C or assembler, and
you are away from the hardware, into a useful layer of abstraction.

.... well sort of - in such a small thing, you are never really far from
the hardware, as that is what its supposed to be controlling - but
what it definitely buys you is that your apps written in your special
language become portable between disparate processors like say
an ARM at the upper end and an 8031/8051 at the lower...

Such "interpreters" are surprisingly little code, and they work
well - faster than what one would expect. - often outperforming
C code that does pass by value...

- Hendrik

 

[half.italian]

I played with NodeBox a little while ago:http://nodebox.net/code/index.php/Home
"NodeBox is a Mac OS X application that lets you create 2D visuals
(static, animated or interactive) using Python programming code and
export them as a PDF or a QuickTime movie. NodeBox is free and
well-documented."

Pretty trippy stuff.

Thanks for the link. Neato.

 

[wheezl]

walterbyrd ha scritto:

I mean other than sysadmins, programmers, and web-site developers?

I have heard of some DBAs who use a lot of python.

I suppose some scientists. I think python is used in bioinformatics. I
think some math and physics people use python.

I suppose some people use python to learn "programming" in general.
Python would do well as a teaching language.

I would think that python would be a good language for data analysis.

Anything else? Finance? Web-analytics? SEO? Digital art?

We use it for everything from automated tape handling and cleaning
systems to driving encoders and specialized TBCs as well as
controlling creaky old video decks. The core logic of our system is
also in python which using a little bit of Twisted ties together the
FreeBSD and Windows machines that the various daemons run on.

Though that doesn't answer your question since I guess that makes us
"programmers" whom I am sure own the lion's share of python usage.

 

[anthro398]

I mean other than sysadmins, programmers, and web-site developers?

I have heard of some DBAs who use a lot of python.

I suppose some scientists. I think python is used in bioinformatics. I
think some math and physics people use python.

I suppose some people use python to learn "programming" in general.
Python would do well as a teaching language.

I would think that python would be a good language for data analysis.

Anything else? Finance? Web-analytics? SEO? Digital art?

I use Python to automate GIS vector and raster processing, to generate
and translate metadata, and to build repository ingest objects to feed
a digital archive. I'm a librarian and coordinate a federally funded
research project, http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/ncgdap/ We also have
another Python developer in the library who use it to process data and
metadate for various library catalog functions.

 

[Cousin Stanley]

I mean other than sysadmins, programmers, and web-site developers?
....

You might try the Python Success Stories
for a good source for finding a wide variety
of Python users and usage ....

http://pythonology.org/success

 

[brad]

I mean other than sysadmins, programmers, and web-site developers?

Anything else? Finance? Web-analytics? SEO? Digital art?

IT Security Analysts use it... see code and screenshots... these are not
professional programmers:

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/rtilley/public/find_ssns/mac/index.html

 

[mytago]

We used Python with wxPython GUI Toolkit to build this simple image
uploader:

http://www.mytago.com/uploader/

Even with no previous Python or wxPython experience at all, we could
get it working in a very short time.

 

[Hendrik van Rooyen]

.
.
.
Python can be *great* in these roles. A couple of us launched
<URL: http://www.engcorp.com/acf/RecentChanges > to promote
co-operation in the area. While the Wiki has been moribund this
year, it would take little to bring it alive again.

Thanks - had a quick look around and will have a decent look later

- seems a good idea

- Hendrik

 

[Cameron Laird]

If you have a little sub - 64k micro this is not really practical.

What we have done is to define a limited virtual machine with
a simple "assembler" language and used Python to write the
"compiler" for it.

Then you have to write the interpreter for the virtual machine
in the native micro's code - Either using C or assembler, and
you are away from the hardware, into a useful layer of abstraction.

... well sort of - in such a small thing, you are never really far from
the hardware, as that is what its supposed to be controlling - but
what it definitely buys you is that your apps written in your special
language become portable between disparate processors like say
an ARM at the upper end and an 8031/8051 at the lower...

Such "interpreters" are surprisingly little code, and they work
well - faster than what one would expect. - often outperforming
C code that does pass by value...

- Hendrik

Amen! That is, while it is indeed easy to construct examples
where Python computes a numerical result only a hundredth as
fast as the corresponding C code, what I find far more interesting
to discuss are the (surprisingly frequent) cases where Python and
litte languages result in solutions which are *faster* at run-time,
along with being more maintainable and quick to develop.

Yet more chatter on a role for Python with specialized hardware ap-
pears in <URL: http://www.unixreview.com/documents/s=9133/ur0404e/ >.

 

[Stef Mientki]

If you have a little sub - 64k micro this is not really practical.

What we have done is to define a limited virtual machine with
a simple "assembler" language and used Python to write the
"compiler" for it.

Then you have to write the interpreter for the virtual machine
in the native micro's code - Either using C or assembler, and
you are away from the hardware, into a useful layer of abstraction.

... well sort of - in such a small thing, you are never really far from
the hardware, as that is what its supposed to be controlling - but
what it definitely buys you is that your apps written in your special
language become portable between disparate processors like say
an ARM at the upper end and an 8031/8051 at the lower...

Such "interpreters" are surprisingly little code, and they work
well - faster than what one would expect. - often outperforming
C code that does pass by value...

- Hendrik

hello Hendrik,

I use even smaller micro controllers (PIC) and
as I'm just writing a functional simulator for it in Python,
(see http://oase.uci.kun.nl/~mientki/data_www/pic/jalcc/python/jal_simulation.html
and even a small movie: (600 kB) http://oase.uci.ru.nl/~mientki/download/jal_simulator1.htm

I would love to see your code,
not directly to use it (I want JAL),
but it might give me some good ideas.

cheers,
Stef Mientki

 

[kirby.urner]

I mean other than sysadmins, programmers, and web-site developers?

I use Python to teach mathematics and analytical thinking to both
children and adults. The OO way of casting a problem has a lot
of power.

I'm working in the CP4E tradition (Computer Programming for
Everybody), an initiative launched by Guido in the early days
of Python. And yes, I actually get paid for this work (some
of it -- I volunteer my time too).

http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/cp4e.html

I'm also a database programmer, use other languages besides
Python, use Python for other tasks besides teaching.

Kirby

PS: my background is philosophy, my major at Princeton (famous
philo guy Richard Rorty was my thesis advisor and one of my
best teachers -- his obit is in today's New York Times).