Because 0-based counting is so intuitive. You see kids in kindergarten count 5 pencils like this: 0... 1... 2... 3... 4
I just counted how many elephants I have. It turns out to be zero.
Counting starts at zero. Think of a state machine, where the start state is zero. The act of counting an item transitions to another state. Kindergarten kids don't call out the states, they call out the transitions.
Python is just the same as any other block structured language before it.
I'm pretty sure that Python is the first language to attempt "everything is an object" with the Simula object model (as opposed to the Smalltalk object model).
That makes it great for managers but bad for programmers.
As much as I think this arguing over whitespace misses the point, I'm pretty sure that IEEE Spectrum didn't have "ergonomics on 80x24 serial terminals" as one of their criteria.
Nice try, but Modern C++ has fixed that in the latest standard. All they have to do for the next standard fix all the bugs introduced in the latest standard, and we should be good to go.
I fully understand why, of all the actual painful things about Python, many Slashdotters seem to think that this is the most objectionable thing in the language. I think it's because people who make this complaint have never had to actually use Python (or should I say "fight Python") in a serious project.
It could be implemented better, sure. See Haskell for details. But this is one of the least worst things about Python.
In many jurisdictions, it's technically illegal for an emergency service vehicle (e.g. police car, fire engine, ambulance) to speed or break red lights. It's also illegal to prosecute them if they're attending to an emergency.
PostScript is pointless, and as far as I understand it a variation of Forth.
Closer to Logo, probably. But some day, you may have to generate PostScript...
Prolog is my anathema, because I don't grasp how to convert a problem into a simple prolog program.
OK, so how about a modern variant such as Mercury? Mercury is easier to use as if it were an imperative language, and then you can add nondeterministic (or semideterministic) bits as needed.
As long as there are no new languages with new concepts, or better syntax for old concepts, I don't see anything interesting on the horizon.
Like I said, you have to avoid all the broken Simula clones. Pretty much every popular language is one of those. (Although to be fair, some languages are nice if you avoid most of their object system. I'm looking at you, C++.)
So the first thing I'd do is complete the list of interesting features if you haven't already. So, for example, if you have never used a constraint logic language (e.g. a modern Prolog with some CLP extension), go do that. Or if you've never used a language with a logic-based type system (e.g. Haskell), go do that. Once you've covered the basics that you may have missed, look for the interesting embedded languages (do you really know PostScript?) or research languages.
There are actually not enough interesting languages [...]
I strongly disagree. Netcraft will never confirm it, but a lot of interesting languages exist. You just need to avoid "yet another interchangeable block-structured language with a Simula-like broken object system", which sadly describes most of the popular ones.
I never saw a 10k line Prolog program by the way.
My point precisely. Prolog gets weird at that scale.
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly. Interfering might cause the RNC and Trump to agree on something and this is not in the D's best interest.
You really want the glory that is Lobster Magnet to be unviewable?
correct, if by "what they want", you mean "what they are sure they can get away with".
The Handmaid's Tale.
Because 0-based counting is so intuitive. You see kids in kindergarten count 5 pencils like this: 0... 1... 2... 3... 4
I just counted how many elephants I have. It turns out to be zero.
Counting starts at zero. Think of a state machine, where the start state is zero. The act of counting an item transitions to another state. Kindergarten kids don't call out the states, they call out the transitions.
Python is just the same as any other block structured language before it.
I'm pretty sure that Python is the first language to attempt "everything is an object" with the Simula object model (as opposed to the Smalltalk object model).
That makes it great for managers but bad for programmers.
As much as I think this arguing over whitespace misses the point, I'm pretty sure that IEEE Spectrum didn't have "ergonomics on 80x24 serial terminals" as one of their criteria.
Nice try, but Modern C++ has fixed that in the latest standard. All they have to do for the next standard fix all the bugs introduced in the latest standard, and we should be good to go.
Every line of code should be in its own method. Instead of cutting and pasting, just change your direct injection config. What could be simpler!
I fully understand why, of all the actual painful things about Python, many Slashdotters seem to think that this is the most objectionable thing in the language. I think it's because people who make this complaint have never had to actually use Python (or should I say "fight Python") in a serious project.
It could be implemented better, sure. See Haskell for details. But this is one of the least worst things about Python.
Correct.
My big secret: Thanks to Docker, I don't actually care any more.
Uh ... you do realise that the original Social Justice movement were Nazi sympathisers?
Nope.
It did come of like some raging anti-man feminst from academia was allowed to run the project.
Maybe if you've never seen a Kennedy Miller film or TV show before. I thought it was very Australian.
Clearly you don't remember McCoy. Or McGann. Or Adric.
Doctor Who has been "over" many times in the last 54 years.
The Doctor could regenerate as Rory, you mean?
Well they seem to be also repainting the police box color to pink, so what do you think will happen?
The Happiness Patrol was, like, 30 years ago, dude. Get over it. Thatcher is dead already.
There's precedent, given that Captain Jack Harkness was treated as an actual captain.
The front page of my Internet is an RSS viewer. It has been for some time and will be for some time.
In many jurisdictions, it's technically illegal for an emergency service vehicle (e.g. police car, fire engine, ambulance) to speed or break red lights. It's also illegal to prosecute them if they're attending to an emergency.
That are actually 3 bad examples :D
Haha.
PostScript is pointless, and as far as I understand it a variation of Forth.
Closer to Logo, probably. But some day, you may have to generate PostScript...
Prolog is my anathema, because I don't grasp how to convert a problem into a simple prolog program.
OK, so how about a modern variant such as Mercury? Mercury is easier to use as if it were an imperative language, and then you can add nondeterministic (or semideterministic) bits as needed.
As long as there are no new languages with new concepts, or better syntax for old concepts, I don't see anything interesting on the horizon.
Like I said, you have to avoid all the broken Simula clones. Pretty much every popular language is one of those. (Although to be fair, some languages are nice if you avoid most of their object system. I'm looking at you, C++.)
So the first thing I'd do is complete the list of interesting features if you haven't already. So, for example, if you have never used a constraint logic language (e.g. a modern Prolog with some CLP extension), go do that. Or if you've never used a language with a logic-based type system (e.g. Haskell), go do that. Once you've covered the basics that you may have missed, look for the interesting embedded languages (do you really know PostScript?) or research languages.
After the 20th language or so, it gets easier. I'm somewhere in the early 70s at the moment. Lost count a while ago.
There are actually not enough interesting languages [...]
I strongly disagree. Netcraft will never confirm it, but a lot of interesting languages exist. You just need to avoid "yet another interchangeable block-structured language with a Simula-like broken object system", which sadly describes most of the popular ones.
I never saw a 10k line Prolog program by the way.
My point precisely. Prolog gets weird at that scale.
Yes. You may now learn Agda.