Re: [dfwPython] A Few More Forrester Survey Questions

In article <mailman.7882.1179552121.32031.python-list@xxxxxxxxxx>,
Brad Allen <brad@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
At 10:22 AM -0500 5/18/07, Jeff Rush wrote:
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3) What is the value of the language to developers?

Yeah, a very common, slippery question. Toss me some good
explanations of why -you- value Python. Readable, free,
cross-platform, powerful. What else? I'll synthesize
something out of everyone's answers.

Learn once, use everywhere: web apps, GUI apps, command line scripts,
systems integration glue, wrapping libraries from other languages,

Wide range of scale: from quick and dirty tasks to large complex systems.

Wide range of skill: accessible to beginners, but supports advanced
concepts experienced developers require.

Practical syntax which emphasizes elegance and clarity through minimalism

Dynamic language features allow high level and flexible design approach,
boosting productivity.

Robustness - bugs in Python itself are rare due to maturity from long
widespread use.

No IDE required: you go far with simple text editors, but good IDEs are
available.

Good community support due to widespread use and open source nature.

Great as glue language, due to flexible options for calling external binary
apps

Mature ecosystem of libraries, both cross platform and platform native,
and good options for accessing libraries in other languages.

Professional opportunities: Python is in production use in a lot of companies,
who realize it costs less than static languages and is more generally useful
than PHP or Ruby. The only real competitor is Perl, which can be difficult
to manage due to readability problems.
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Also important: correct Unicode handling.
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