[Zope] Zope Stability Question

Damian Morton morton@dennisinter.com
Thu, 9 Mar 2000 10:47:06 -0500


I have never seen the Python interpreter crash in any way, nor have I heard
of it doing so. I havent seen this, but my partner tells me he as seen the
Perl interpreter crash. I have seen the Java JVM crash many many times. Some
of my Python code has been running 24/7 for the last 18 months.

I would say that, as languages or interpreters, Python and Perl are equally
and extremely stable. As tools for developing software, Python's object
oriented foundation is conducive to the building of more stable _systems_
that Perl. This could be because of the language itself, or because of the
programmers it attracts.

Most of the Perl programmers I have met are, frankly, obscuritan mess-heads.
The concept of structured programming is somewhat anathema to the Perl
programmer. I looked over the shoulder of one Perl programmer we had hired,
who was having trouble with a database import problem for several weeks.
This Perl programmer had written 6 pages of perl code without actually using
_any_ indentation. The program was full of nested loops and she was having a
difficult time debugging her code. Without knowing any Perl, I cleaned up
the indentation, fixed a few glaring problems, and handed it back to her.
She had the problem solved at the end of the day.

It comes down to this: It is hard to write a program in Python that another
Python programmer (or the same programer several months later) wont
understand. It is easy to write a program in Perl that another Perl
programmer wont understand.

As for the outside consultant. Ask them what makes them feel that Python is
less stable than Perl, and what exactly that means.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: zope-admin@zope.org [mailto:zope-admin@zope.org]On Behalf Of James
> W. Howe
> Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2000 9:54 AM
> To: zope@zope.org
> Subject: [Zope] Zope Stability Question
>
>
> I'm working on a project for which Zope seems appropriate.  However, an
> outside consultant for our client claims that the major problem with Zope
> is that it requires Python, and Python is much less stable than something
> like Perl.  I haven't used Zope or Python enough to have counterarguments
> to this comment.  I don't know specifically what stability issues this
> person may be referring to, but I would like to ask for feedback on this
> persons comment.
>
> Thanks.
>
> James W. Howe				mailto:jwh@allencreek.com
> Allen Creek Software, Inc.		pgpkey:
> http://ic.net/~jwh/pgpkey.html
> Ann Arbor, MI  48103
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Zope maillist  -  Zope@zope.org
> http://lists.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope
> **   No cross posts or HTML encoding!  **
> (Related lists -
>  http://lists.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce
>  http://lists.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )
>