Re: YAPAS (Yet Another Python Advocacy Story)

[Adam Turoff <ziggy@panix.com>]

Walt wrote:
> Certainly there are valid arguments to be made on both sides, but the
> author seems so incredibly clueless that I think O'Reilly is doing the
> entire Python community a disservice by giving this guy such a
> high-profile soapbox.

I've met Paul Prescod, and he certainly has clue.  This promotional
piece is a bit caustic in places, but finally makes the case for 
evangelizing python (aside from the government sponsored agitprop
found in CP4E).

So, while Paul's opinion may be poorly stated if ORA wanted everyone to
just get along, it certainly makes a case *for* Python; and having that page
on ORA.com doesn't hurt, if the goal is to sell more Python books.

It's obvious that Paul doesn't care one bit about the Perl/C++
communities, and it shouldn't matter in the least.  Bjarne Stroustroup
doesn't need to acknowledge Perl or Python to advocate C++, and Larry
has made his point many times about "small synxtax" languages like
Python.

Paul's editorial may be poorly stated from the Perl point of view
(and will probably force a refutation piece this week), but his 
viewpoint is certainly not invalid.  Perhaps he's showing deficiencies
in the Perl community that the Python community is addressing; perhaps
he has finally documented the memes behind Python that will force our
communities to agree to disagree.

Z.

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