On Mon, Jun 25, 2012 at 1:41 PM, Travis Oliphant <tra...@continuum.io>wrote:
> >> C was famous for bugs due to the lack of function prototypes. This was >> fixed with C99 and the stricter typing was a great help. >> >> >> Bugs are not "due to lack of function prototypes". Bugs are due to >> mistakes that programmers make (and I know all about mistakes programmers >> make). Function prototypes can help detect some kinds of mistakes which is >> helpful. But, this doesn't help the question of how to transition a >> weakly-typed program or whether or not that is even a useful exercise. >> > > Oh, come on. Writing correct C code used to be a guru exercise. A friend > of mine, a Putnam fellow, was the Weitek guru for drivers. To say bugs are > programmer mistakes is information free, the question is how to minimize > programmer mistakes. > > > Bugs *are* programmer mistakes. Let's put responsibility where it lies. > Of course, writing languages that help programmers make fewer mistakes > (or catch them earlier when they do) are a good thing. I'm certainly not > arguing against that. > > But, I reiterate that just because a better way to write new code under > some metric is discovered or understood does not mean that all current code > should be re-written to use that style. That's the only comment I'm > making. > > Also, you mention the lessons from Python 2 and Python 3, but I'm not sure > we would agree on what those lessons actually were, so I wouldn't rely on > that as a way of getting your point across if it matters. > > Best, > > -Travis > > At the risk of starting a language flame war, my take of Charles' comment about the lessons of python 3.0 is its success in getting packages transitioned smoothly (still an on-going process), versus what happened with Perl 5. Perl 5 was a major change that happened all at once and no-one adopted it for the longest time. Meanwhile, python incremented itself from the 2.x series to the 3.x series in a very nice manner with a well-thought-out plan that was visible to all. At least, that is my understanding and perception. Take it with as much salt as you (or your doctor) desires. Ben Root
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