From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Fri Jul 1 21:37:12 2016 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0CDD6B8FA17 for ; Fri, 1 Jul 2016 21:37:12 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from doug@safeport.com) Received: from bucksport.safeport.com (bucksport.safeport.com [198.74.231.101]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id D02DC2E42 for ; Fri, 1 Jul 2016 21:37:11 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from doug@safeport.com) Received: from bucksport.safeport.com (bucksport.safeport.com [198.74.231.101]) by bucksport.safeport.com (8.14.5/8.14.5) with ESMTP id u61L9025053055 for ; Fri, 1 Jul 2016 17:09:00 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from doug@safeport.com) Date: Fri, 1 Jul 2016 17:09:00 -0400 (EDT) From: doug@safeport.com To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: "Simple" Languages in FreeBSD Message-ID: User-Agent: Alpine 2.00 (BSF 1167 2008-08-23) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.4.3 (bucksport.safeport.com [198.74.231.101]); Fri, 01 Jul 2016 17:09:00 -0400 (EDT) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.22 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 01 Jul 2016 21:37:12 -0000 I am only responding to a very small part of this thread. Back in the day I used machine language, basic, fortran, algol (forced as I maintained a compiler), snobol, and lisp (which I never really got the hang of). In my unix life I use sh, perl, and python. Perl is kind of like snobol, both had/have contests where the goal is either: I can do it with less statements, or bet you can't figure out what this does. At the end of the day if you like trying stuff and want/need an object oriented language ruby and python seem good, I bypassed ruby for no good reason. My problem with perl is when I go back to look at a script I wrote 2+ months ago my ability to figure it out is inversely proportional to how far I have strayed from having it look like C. So far in python I can go back and extend or modify things. This is clearly just me but it is is line with the general nature of the languages. The one python thing I will comment on is the construction: > Besides, Python, however logical it is, may be unpredictable. For example: > > In [1]: a=99 > In [2]: b=999 > In [3]: a is 99 > Out[3]: True > In [4]: b is 999 > Out[4]: False I have never used 'is' but '==' is used for numerical comparasons and 'b == 999' does the logical thing. Unless there is some symantic reason to the contrary, I think 'b is 999' could be submitted as a bug. With my first/second generation language experience I have a hard time with object stuff. I am current starting to implement a billing system in python. I have not picked a GUI but am leaning toward gtk3. I guess I will see how I feel about python in a bit. Since all my programming is FreeBSD based, I like perl and python as first choices because both are just there if you have built a workstation. That probably also changes as the GUI gets tossed into the mix. _____ Douglas Denault http://www.safeport.com doug@safeport.com Voice: 301-217-9220 Fax: 301-217-9277