I don't know a line of Python. But I have been using undergraduate students---hundreds of undergraduates--to write research analysis code for me since 2013. Most of them are pretty darn good---I have high standards for entry into my research class.
Most of them have learned Python because that's what our university teaches as a first programming language.
So, you ask, how can I hate Python if I don't know how to write a single line of it?
Because pretty much every python program ever written by any of my students either doesn't work on another machine in the same cluster that's supposed to be configured identically, or stops working on the VERY SAME machine within a few months when some minor version number changes. Really, people. Does it really matter whether I'm using Python 3.6.4 or 3.6.5? REALLY? The third digit in the version number changes, and the code stops working?
I've been told by the local experts, "oh, it's easy to write portable code in Python". They must be using some alien definition of "easy" that's not found in the dictionary, because this is a recurring problem. Every quarter, every time I try to re-run some code that was written more than a few months ago, it fails. Traceback errors, missing library errors...
This is completely unacceptable. I have written code in 1991 that still runs. (In C. And Bourne Shell. And awk, if you must know.) Now I'm not trying to say that C or Bourne Shell or awk or f77 are better....but I'm saying that if students in their 3rd or 4th year of a Computer Science program at a decent university still can't figure out how to write code that lasts longer than a month... there is something seriously wrong.
My only saving grace is that I continue to recruit new undergrads every year, and they are able to "fix" the code.... that quarter. But pretty much guaranteed it'll die again.
This is why I hate Python. In fact, it is rare that I speak of the language without the F-word---usually in ALL CAPS---as a prefix. All my students know I hate Python, but I continue to let them use it because if I want them to do work with me, I have no choice.
Is it easy to learn? Probably. Easy to master? Clearly not. Easy to maintain? HELL NO. (Less politely... give me a f*cking break, no friggin' way.)
That's my 5 years of experience.
End of rant.
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I don't know a line of Python. But I have been using undergraduate students---hundreds of undergraduates--to write research analysis code for me since 2013. Most of them are pretty darn good---I have high standards for entry into my research class.
Most of them have learned Python because that's what our university teaches as a first programming language.
So, you ask, how can I hate Python if I don't know how to write a single line of it?
Because pretty much every python program ever written by any of my students either doesn't work on another machine in the same cluster that's supposed to be configured identically, or stops working on the VERY SAME machine within a few months when some minor version number changes. Really, people. Does it really matter whether I'm using Python 3.6.4 or 3.6.5? REALLY? The third digit in the version number changes, and the code stops working?
I've been told by the local experts, "oh, it's easy to write portable code in Python". They must be using some alien definition of "easy" that's not found in the dictionary, because this is a recurring problem. Every quarter, every time I try to re-run some code that was written more than a few months ago, it fails. Traceback errors, missing library errors...
This is completely unacceptable. I have written code in 1991 that still runs. (In C. And Bourne Shell. And awk, if you must know.) Now I'm not trying to say that C or Bourne Shell or awk or f77 are better....but I'm saying that if students in their 3rd or 4th year of a Computer Science program at a decent university still can't figure out how to write code that lasts longer than a month... there is something seriously wrong.
My only saving grace is that I continue to recruit new undergrads every year, and they are able to "fix" the code.... that quarter. But pretty much guaranteed it'll die again.
This is why I hate Python. In fact, it is rare that I speak of the language without the F-word---usually in ALL CAPS---as a prefix. All my students know I hate Python, but I continue to let them use it because if I want them to do work with me, I have no choice.
Is it easy to learn? Probably. Easy to master? Clearly not. Easy to maintain? HELL NO. (Less politely... give me a f*cking break, no friggin' way.)
That's my 5 years of experience.
End of rant.