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Comment by mattlondon | Hacker News Reader

> What will we have in 20 years?

Whatever it is, I sincerely hope that it is not driven by Python, and instead we have a more accessible language.

Say what you will about Python, but it is a total pain in the arse to work with. The 2.x legacy still casts a long shadow (in terms of online guides, unmaintained libs etc), anaconda, pip, easy install, strings/unicode, type hints (or not), unreadable & unmaintainable list comprehensions etc etc etc. What a dumpster fire, and a truly hateful language.

Here is hoping that some other language takes over. I have my personal take, but I won't let that ruin the rant :)

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In part people like Python because it allows you to be busy with boilerplate, the deficiencies of the language and packaging as well as bugs and unexpected tracebacks. It makes you feel productive.

This is the same angle that pg used in one of his essays: Back then people liked Java because the huge amount of boilerplate made them look productive. In Lisp you stare into the REPL and notice that you don't have any ideas about the actual problem you are trying to solve.

I would also prefer another language. A well written C++ library (the one in pytorch seems a bit rough and a second class citizen) would already be a step up.

I think you are on to something re: python and java.

My "favourite" part is Anaconda taking multiple days to say downgrade Spider v3.3.0 to v3.2.0 (or whatever) in an environment. This operation should ideally complete in under a second, Anaconda is probably one of the most inefficient software on the planet that has widespread adoption.

Hey, I like list comprehensions, thank you very much.

Bummer, list comprehension is deprecated, you should instead use a "virtual list" maintained by some kid who will shortly be losing interest ...

That's a strange comment. Python encourages using its basic container types. Very unusual to use a third party library for something like that.

I've never encountered a "virtual" anything in Python. That's more common in c++ or Java.

I hate python for big software systems as much as the next guy, but for whatever reason some people are quite productive with it.

I think programmers fall into different camps on this issue.

"Python is the new VB6." Simultaneously the greatest compliment and the worst insult I can come up with for it.

>Say what you will about Python, but it is a total pain in the arse to work with.

Ok. What would be your suggestion for a language that "just works?"

You are holding it wrong ;)

Where do you work so I can ensure we never meet?

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