Smug Python Weenie

With descriptions of SmugLispWeenie and SmugErlangWeenie, surely there's a place for the SmugPythonWeenie. These folks generally have it in for PerlLanguage, but sometimes target other scripting languages. Perl has a philosophy called TimTowTdi: ThereIsMoreThanOneWayToDoIt. Python has TNTRWTDI: That's Not The Right Way To Do It.

<smug>But that's because most of the possible ways to do it are Not The Right Way because they are:

less readable;
orders of magnitude slower;
prone to error; and/or
more difficult to maintain.

There is generally a broad degree of consensus among Pythonistas about what the Right Thing to do is.</smug>

A SmugPythonWeenie will insist that when you run into something that irritates you about the language (block ends are hard to see) the failing is actually yours instead (your blocks are too long).

That's actually a going point, and I've used the same argument in favor of } over "end if" etc in overly wordy languages like VisualBasic. If you can't tell which block is ending or can't find the closing brace, your blocks are too long. It's a valid criticism in any context. SmallIsBeautiful.

Now, PythonLanguage may have its share of weenies, but 'taint nothing compared to those of LispLanguage or SmallTalk. (And ErlangLanguage! Why does it have a weenies page? You can count those weenies on a single hand, it seems!)

Speaking as a former SmugAmigaWeenie?, I can tell you that you don't have to have huge numbers to be overly smug. As a matter of fact, the smaller the minority, the more the group tends to take on the tone of an underdog unfairly treated by the world. (It's been discussed a lot.)

(I'd say that programmers tend to be a lot less religious about Python than users of other languages. It's a language for getting things done, not a shining jewel of a language that focuses on elegant but controversial features.)

Where, in the Python community, does one find a PaulGraham or ErikNaggum -- someone who can constantly find new and elegant ways to tell you you're an idiot for not using Python? And unlike AlanKay, GuidoVanRossum is about as down-home, humble, and self-deprecating as you can get. I guess EricRaymond can be annoyingly smug at times, but usually, he's talking about something other than Python when he starts popping off.

Python programmers are just too nice to have a SmugWeenies? page written about 'em!

Come now, that just begs for a google rebuttal. First hit I find:

 "Ron Stephens" <rstephens at vectron.com> wrote in message
 news:a5415304.0404101350.271088f2 at posting.google.com...
 > Python is the best and most popular general purpose scripting
 > language. That is, Python is the best and most popular general
 > purpose, dynamic, interpreted language. Sure, there are other
 > scripting languages that are more popular for specific application
 > domains, and there are big company backed systems languages that are
 > far more popular; but in its niche, Python is tops.
 > [...]
 > Long live Python, the universal solvent!
 >
 > Ron Stephens
 > www.awaretek.com/weblog/index.html

Lo, a SmugPythonWeenie in the wild! :-)

As for comparisons with the down-home, humble, and self-deprecating GuidoVanRossum, his counterpart in the Lisp world is not PaulGraham, it would be Lisp's author, JohnMcCarthy, who does quite well in those regards.

("a shining jewel of a language that focuses on elegant but controversial features" Hmm. That would be RubyLanguage.)

CategoryPython CategoryWeenie