Re: Which programming Language

["Douglas A. Tutty" <dtutty@vianet.ca>]

On Sat, Feb 07, 2009 at 11:40:29AM -0500, Michael Pobega wrote:
> On Sat, Feb 07, 2009 at 09:39:20AM -0500, Douglas A. Tutty wrote:
> > On Fri, Feb 06, 2009 at 06:25:31PM +0100, Abdelkader Belahcene wrote:
 
> > I've done a lot in Python.  I have a lot of python programs.  The new
> > version of python will change the print statement to a print function
> > (among other language changes) which will mean porting old stuff to new.
> > Yuck.
> > 
> 
> Doug, from what I understand the new version of Python won't replace
> Python 2.x, but instead it will be somewhat of a fork -- there are still
> plans for development of a Python 2.7, as to not break compatibility
> while still allowing for improvements (though, it is suggested that you
> port everything to new)
 
Yes, I understand that there will be a substantial overlap period,
however, this means that while I'm maintaining old stuff and writing
new, I have to remember which dialect I'm using.  Sort of like having
two different FORTRAN compliers in one shop.

This is why I'm transitioning to Ada.  If I have to port anyway, I may
as well port to a compiled language.  Ada was written as a standard long
before the first compiler was done, then the compilers had to meet the
standard.  Ada programs are totally portable from one machine to another
(unless, of course, you import a non-Ada function that is not the same
on all machines).  Ada is designed to allow for the long-term
maintenance of programs.  

Which is another issue.  I still have Fortran77 code in production.
Fortran77 won't change.  In 15 years, there may not be a 2.x python
interpreter available (i.e. maintained for security issues).  If I stuck
with python, in 15 years I'd still have to remember how to code in 2.x
and 3.x (and 4.x?).  In 15 years, Ada95 will still be Ada95.

Think how long sh scripts have been around.  You could take the first sh
script and run it today unmodified.  When your software has a long
lifespan, there's a lot to be said for it to be written in a language
with a standard behind it.

Doug.