why I love python

Lately, discussions at the NFJS conference and recent conversations with friends have made me introspective about why I like Python.

I first started using Python about 9 years ago. Previously, I'd used mostly C, C++, Perl, Pascal, and a very little bit of Visual Basic.

Pascal was what I'd learned in High School. VB, C, and C++ were what I'd used during college (I guess there was a teeeeny bit of Lisp thrown in there too). My first couple years as a software engineer, C++ was the hammer with which I'd pounded all programming nails.

Eventually I learned Perl. It was OK. But, like most people, I'd write Perl scripts and not be able to read them the next month.

After a recomendation I'd read online, I tried the Python tutorial. The conciseness was a revelation. The way it got out of my way and let me worry about the problem and not the compile/run/debug loop. Having dictionaries and lists as a first-class language features blew me away. I don't know why similar features in Perl never struck me in the same way.

Learning Python not only completely reinvigorated my interest in programming, but it also and completely changed the way I program. Maybe I still love Python because of the sentimental attachment to it from that first revelatory period of experimentation.