RE: Java versus Python

  • From: "Sina Bahram" <sbahram@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2011 10:06:53 -0400

All sounds about right ... what is your question?

Take care,
Sina

-----Original Message-----
From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Homme, James
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2011 8:59 AM
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Java versus Python

Hi Sina,
I'm probably totally missing a point because of my inexperience with various 
languages here. Should I be trying to make a connection
between the point about indention (I like the head banging analogy) and the 
parser and variable typing stuff? 

Regarding variable parsing, I understand that, for example, the Java parser can 
more easily get upset with me if I forget to specify
the type of something than the Python parser would. I also understand that the 
Python parser needs to check to see if I put some
sort of quotes around something to tell if it's a string or some kind of 
number, and that it needs to check the number to see if I
use a decimal point to figure out whether or not it's a float or an integer. I 
also understand that Python knows that a colon
character signals that the next line should be indented, and that certain 
keywords start a code block, such as class, def, if, for,
and others. I also understand that the Java parser wants me to put a left brace 
at the beginning of a class or method, and a right
brace at the end of a class or method. 

What am I misunderstanding here?

Thanks.

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Sina Bahram
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2011 7:52 AM
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Java versus Python

There are two issues, just so we don't' conflate them.

One is the issue of the grammar in question, and the second is the parser for 
this grammar.

So, the grammar for java uses left/right brace for block level scoping, and the 
grammar for python uses indention level.

Short humorous aside, everyone says indentation instead of indention, but isn't 
indentation what you actually do to someone's head
in a fight, not to your code? Sorry, I love grammars, regardless of context, 
*smile*, pun intended.

Ok, so if one were to simply say that missing a space is like forgetting a 
brace, then, everything else being equal, it would be a
similar error; however, it isn't exactly the same thing. Spacing for indention 
purposes happens on a line by line basis, as opposed
to the one time operation that is putting, or not putting, an opening/closing 
brace.

Also, forgetting a closing brace leaves a block of code open, and forgetting a 
space instead closes a block.

Ok, so now if we have some code, if I forget a closing brace, that's not fun, 
but it's at least pretty easy to detect because
chances are that I'll open a method declaration or do something else that 
doesn't happen inside of a block.

If I forget a space, i simply close the block, so a bug can stay there forever, 
because all that's happened is that I've simply
closed it one line too soon, or maybe a few lines too soon ... so that code 
still runs, but maybe just not on the conditional I
want, or maybe it overrides a value.

In other words, I'm putting forth that forgetting a closing brace is actually 
more destructive than forgetting a space, but because
of this, the parser quickly ends up finding something that is an illegal syntax 
error or just something at the semantic level that
doesn't make sense, and so there's a much higher chance of you finding out 
about it before you ever come to run your program even
once.

That, I hope, addresses the issue of grammars.

Now, moving onto parsers.

The parser for Python, I feel, and this is subjective, doesn't give as good 
feedback to the programmer as the java one does. The
reason for this really isn't the python guys' fault, at least not always, and 
that's because of a lack of typing. Because of this,
sometimes error messages are perceived as vague and not useful.

In java, alternatively, the compiler knows exactly what its expecting, what 
would even make the code syntactically correct, and so
not only can it give you feedback along the lines of an argument being of a 
wrong type, but tell you what it was thinking should go
there instead.

Anyways, just some thoughts.


Take care,
Sina







-----Original Message-----
From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Homme, James
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2011 7:25 AM
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Java versus Python

Hi,
What would Java have done in a case like this? According to me, this would be a 
logic error whether or not it had anything to do
with indentation. I would think that it would be very easy to miss a right 
brace at the end of a code block. This would especially
be true since Java allows you to have a single statement without using a right 
brace. It could be that I am missing something here
in my thinking.

Jim

-----Original Message-----
From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ken Perry
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2011 12:22 AM
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Java versus Python

This is true while I won't get into the what language is better since I
write in too many in my job to even want to have an opinion people need to
realize that miss placed spaces are nothing like context problems in other
languages.  If you miss place a block of spaced lines you don't just cause
an error in the code.  In fact the code might run along happily with no
errors but the code won't do what you want.  This is one of the down falls
of python.  There was actually a bug in the Icon and Braille+ that has been
out for years that we only just recently found because of this very fact.
One of the sighted guys that works on the project even missed it because the
block of 10 lines of code just looked like it was supposed to be out there
on its own.

Ken



-----Original Message-----
From: programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:programmingblind-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John J. Boyer
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2011 11:38 PM
To: programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Java versus Python

The mandatory indentation in Python means that a single misplaced whitespace
can entirely destroy a program. This is not very robust. C programmers
usually make sure their code is nicely indented by using a utility like the
Gnu indent. I'm still looking for something similar for Java. Manual
indentation is too error-prone.

John

On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 08:32:55PM -0600, Littlefield, Tyler wrote:
> Java uses it's indentation much like braces are used. It's not where
> things have to be in specific columns, but indentation sort of solves
> a couple problems.
> 1) It means that all blocks of code are denoted by a deeper
> indentation level than the block that branched it.
> 2) It also means that people usually stick to a nice style. I've seen
> a lot of different code, for example:
> while (bla)
> do_something();
> while (bla) {
> do_something
> }
> while (bla)
> {
> do_something();
> }
>
> Indentation can be a bit hard to get used to, but I personally like it
> quite a lot.
> On 6/17/2011 8:30 PM, John J. Boyer wrote:
> >The thing I dislike about Python is mandatory indentation. This seems
> >to me a throwback to the old days of assembly language and Cobol,
> >where things had to be in certain columns. I like the free-form
> >syntax of Java and C.
> >
> >John
> >
> >On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 07:15:55PM -0700, David Tseng wrote:
> >>I personally find arguments about programming languages much
> >>analogous to those seen in politics.  Both sides have great points
> >>but tend to drive one another towards opposite extremes.  Some camps
> >>are die hard dynamic language practitioners while others stick to
> >>strongly typed code.
> >>
> >>I will say that strongly typed languages have kind of won the battle
> >>historically.  Most of the industry writes in C-styled languages
> >>like C/C++, java, etc.  Lisp, still beloved by many, kind of lost.
> >>Python, as many have shown, works wonderfully and frees up coders to
> >>actually code, is still largely a wrapper on C.  For those who want
> >>absolute performance, it's considered still an extra level of
> >>indirection that's not worth the productivity gain.
> >>
> >>I love python and its free-form style and the amount of progress you
> >>can make using it.  Python excels at the rinse and repeat (compile,
> >>run, fix) style of coding.  The few seconds you need to compile a
> >>C-styled language and run, you're already fixing the bug in python.
> >>You're not babied into writing object-oriented code ala java, but
> >>can independently mix in functional aspects if you wish.  You can
> >>just as easily go OO if you want as well.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>On 6/17/11, Alex Hall<mehgcap@xxxxxxxxx>  wrote:
> >>>Programming is certainly a matter of preference in most situations.
> >>>I would probably give up if the only option were php, since I
> >>>really hate that language (no offense to anyone). Java is easy
> >>>enough, but I agree that it feels bulky at times. I like Python's
> >>>ease of use and readability, plus you can create executables with
> >>>it, something that is difficult in java. Some people don't like
> >>>that python is loosely typed, but I prefer saying:
> >>>name=raw_input("Enter your name: ") to, if memory serves:
> >>>name=new String();
> >>>in=new InputReader();
> >>>name=in.readLine();
> >>>or something along those lines.
> >>>
> >>>On 6/17/11, Littlefield, Tyler<tyler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>  wrote:
> >>>>I've used both. I really like python because it comes on most *nix
> >>>>systems. I also like Python because of it's flexability and
versatility.
> >>>>Java is nice enough, but it feels big bulky and clunky to me. That
> >>>>and they seem to have some serious naming convention issues.
> >>>>Sometimes things are capitalized, sometimes they're not--.net makes
more sense.
> >>>>On 6/17/2011 6:49 PM, John J. Boyer wrote:
> >>>>>There has been a lot of discussion on the list lately about
> >>>>>Python. Why is that?Personally i much prefer Java. Its syntx
> >>>>>makes a lot more sense and it is just as powerful, if not more. A
> >>>>>command-line build system like ant can take most of the hassle out of
working with Java classes.
> >>>>>personally, I prefer this to Eclipse.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>BrailleBlaster is written in Java. I am using openjdk-1.6,
> >>>>>Eclipse SWT and Apache Ant.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>John
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>--
> >>>>
> >>>>Take care,
> >>>>Ty
> >>>>my website:
> >>>>http://tds-solutions.net
> >>>>my blog:
> >>>>http://tds-solutions.net/blog
> >>>>skype: st8amnd127
> >>>>My programs don't have bugs; they're randomly added features!
> >>>>
> >>>>__________
> >>>>View the list's information and change your settings at
> >>>>//www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>--
> >>>Have a great day,
> >>>Alex (msg sent from GMail website)
> >>>mehgcap@xxxxxxxxx; http://www.facebook.com/mehgcap __________ View
> >>>the list's information and change your settings at
> >>>//www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
> >>>
> >>>
> >>__________
> >>View the list's information and change your settings at
> >>//www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
>
>
> --
>
> Take care,
> Ty
> my website:
> http://tds-solutions.net
> my blog:
> http://tds-solutions.net/blog
> skype: st8amnd127
> My programs don't have bugs; they're randomly added features!
>
> __________
> View the list's information and change your settings at
> //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind

--
John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer Abilitiessoft, Inc.
http://www.abilitiessoft.com
Madison, Wisconsin USA
Developing software for people with disabilities

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