Re: bash vs. python scripts - which one is better?

[Dan H <dunno@stoptrick.com>]

On Sat, 11 Aug 2007 00:52:18 -0000
BartlebyScrivener <bscrivener42@gmail.com> wrote:

> from http://docs.python.org/tut/node3.html
>
> If you're a professional software developer, you may have to work
> with several C/C++/Java libraries but find the usual
> write/compile/test/re- compile cycle is too slow.

This I don't understand. My cycle goes like this: Muck around in source code, flick to xterm, press <Up> <Enter> and see the result. The <Up> of course just invokes the last command which is always either "./script" or "make && ./program". For not-too-big C programs (say, a couple k lines) the make step doesn't take up appreciable time, so the write/test cycle is pretty much equally fast for script and C programs (C++ is a lot slower because the system includes are huge, and maybe the compiling process itself is more complex.)

So, no, for small to medium programs the development cycle of a compiled language (at least of C) isn't necessarily slower than that of a scripted (interpreted) language.

--D.