Tom Pinckney: Why I gave up on Java and switched to Python

I'm sure there are many reasons why such switch would make sense, but the ones provided here are just BS.<p>1)"No more XML config files" XML configs are slowly disappearing<p>2)"by omitting the type info a python program has fewer opportunities for bugs" this reason was just nonsensical<p>3)"It's free software and easier to hack on", go check the openJDK<p>4)"Things in the python world seem to "just work"" that's just a self delusion caused by an emotional reaction not a valid argument<p>5)"I can still relive the good old scheme days" ok so maybe this one is not BS

<i>Easily half of my java was type info. If the number of bugs in a program is proportional to the program length, by omitting the type info a python program has fewer opportunities for bugs.</i><p>You're kidding me, right?

If you feel the same way and you are in the Java world, consider also switching to Groovy. It gives you all the dynamic type checking goodness with a smoother learning and adoption curve, since you can start from 100% Java and work your way up into closures, dropping types, simper syntax, etc.<p>#1 is a bit unfair now, as there are plenty of things in pure Java (Guice, Spring Roo) that don't require ridiculous XML files.

My main language is C, and my go-to language for quick programs to get some job done used to be Java. Until I learned Python and realized how nice it is. Now I write all my scripts and tools in Python, it's a superb language. I enjoy C because of its bare-bones simplicity, but I like working in Python just as much.

So... with a statically type-checked language, most of his errors were null reference errors? Funny, with Python most of my errors were type errors. (And most of my serious problems were with refactoring complex applications as they grew larger. This is why I stick to C#.)

"to get Tomcat to produce good performance under load"<p>Tomcat is a servlet reference implementation, and is good as a development application server. But for anything serious in production, get JBoss or something. I know the Tomcat team has been working hard on making it more robust, but still!<p>I think some people/companies and some languages are just meant for each other. Looks like these folks just got into Java through the wrong door. The switch to Python could only make a lot of sense to them. And I'm glad they did.

What a horrible article.

Article dated to:<p>"Saturday, August 1, 2009"

He should try Go. I'd say it's half way between Java and Python.