If you’re mostly doing Java, I suppose. But there’s so much useful stuff written in CPython that Jython feels like a second stringer.

I do both, and Jython is great, but CPython is more useful for general work. Jython is only really useful for Java scripting. I would never write an entire application in Jython, I would wind up implementing most of the core in Java for speed and reuse.

I like C++. In fact, I love C++. I got to this post via googling for lambda and currying functions in C++ (naturally, you can find the former in Boost, but the latter are lagging behind) largely because I’m getting sick of the boilerplate code for functors, not to mention the occasional need for what limited set of bindings exist in the STL…

… which is really the problem I think you’re addressing. I might be an old C++ fart, but I do try to think of other paradigms where they exist. (Or, indeed, don’t.) Most “C++” programmers aren’t C++ programmers at all. Generally, they’re not even very good C programmers. In fact, I wouldn’t necessarily rely on them as programmers — they tend to come from a maths, physics or engineering background, which starts them off with a set of unnecessary preconceptions such as “unroll that loop,” “in-line that function,” “tote that barge…” etc. Given the technical ability and general timidity of management, as you say, this quickly sets into a concrete mind-set that doesn’t adapt particularly well to new application domains.

I mean, who on earth would hand-craft an XML parser in C++?

Mind you, the concept of people being taught in Java at college and then being told to use C++ at work is equally bizarre to me. I really don’t think Java is a good teaching language. (Strangely, I think C++ is — precisely because its syntax, etc, is so difficult.)

Anyway, as a recent emigre from the C++/perl world to the C++/python world, I’m hoping to investigate jython more. It has blindingly obvious benefits (not least, as you say, its cross-platform capabilities, although rival JVM producers seem hell-bent on reducing these).

My fondest job memory was of a 4000 transactions/second system written in C++ (and reasonably free of bugs, apart from a couple of very nasty ones that someone else fixed). I don’t get to do this sort of thing any more. Instead, I get to design and code dynamic Web systems. I don’t think that C++ is particularly well-adapted to the issues involved here. I definitely need to branch out into the areas you’re discussing.

Thanks! Keep writing…

gonna add this site to my rss reader…hope to hear more!

http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/Recipe/52549