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Languages like python and R are some-what high level languages, with an easy syntax and very readable code. This useful essentially to make it easier for non-programmers to use it. For me as a software developer with +4 years of professional programming. I started with Assembly, Quick-Basic to C++, Java then C#, I found Python super convenient, and at times way too convenient.
At first it felt like I was cheating, and would not consider myself actually writing code, more like pseudo-coding.
After a year or so, I got used to it and it became my default, but it still does not feel right .. is anyone else feeling the same?
I do believe that coding the hard way is not always the right way, but I am just wired that way.

Comments
  • 2
    Python is weird at least
  • 6
    Nope. Use the right tool for the job. If Python does the job (prototyping, glue logic, etc) fine, why change it?
  • 1
    @iiii but the good kind of weird no?
  • 2
    @RememberMe yep, I agree with you it gets the job done, with fewer lines of code! but I feel less authentic ..
  • 1
    The right way to code is the only way you need. Take the best tool for the task whether it's python, r, c, assembly etc.
    The only thing I really dislike about some languages is the lack of curly brackets. Brackets make everything so much more organized, especially when your IDE highlights the hierarchy of those brackets!
    But I never felt guilty using a language for what is was made for..
  • 2
    @laraNeedsCoffee different kinds of weird. Some positives, some negatives.
  • 1
    Authentic?
    Well if it gets the job done in an efficient manor while meeting requirements, all good.

    I don't miss thinking of how long my data structures are (going to be), whether I forgot to release a pointer or deallocate memory :p
  • 1
    Try using Type Annotations and it might feel better
  • 2
    I feel the same way.

    I started with TIBasic, moved onto z80 assembly, then onto C and x86 asm. A decade or so later I picked up PHP, Perl, and now Ruby. Using them absolutely feels like cheating / writing pseudocode that somehow runs.

    As much as I adore Ruby, anything higher than C++ feels strange and fake, as if I’m using a training tool instead of something real.
  • 2
    @laraNeedsCoffee not at all. It's like feeling weird because you used a hammer to hammer in a nail; instead of first chopping down a branch, shaping it, mining iron, smelting it into steel, smithing the hammer head, joining the two together, smithing the nail, and then finally hammering it in.

    You should be able to do it the "hardcore" way, but actually doing that every time is kinda pointless. It depends on what you care about. Python's complexity is all in the application, not the mechanics of the language. Just like a hammer makes hammering nails easy so you shift focus to building that fancy house instead of worrying about individual nails. Does it take a only a few lines to instantiate a machine learning model in Python? Well the "hardcore" part is choosing which one, tuning it, and deploying it.
  • 1
    I love using these high level languages for my personal bots, but large-scale applications sometimes get confusing without a typing system. Intellij IDEA makes it so easy to refactor your Java code, but refactoring Python becomes increasingly difficult. @ViRaS I love typing annotations in Python, more so than the ultra-strict TypeScript, although we're a long way from having a good typing system and support in Python (although I admit I very often abuse their lack of typing). Looking forward for that day that they add generic typing.
  • 2
    @RememberMe love the beautiful image you set there. I guess you are right, we tend to think that the house will fall down because we did not "hammer" every single nail rather than trusting that the libraries did their job and let me worry about the bigger picture!!
  • 2
    @lotd that's what I try to tell myself, like hey the job gets done in fewer lines of code I got no complaints ~.~
  • 1
    @Root glade I'm not the only one out there feeling the same. I liked how much we got in common.
  • 1
    @eo2875 I'd say Python already has Generic types
    https://mypy.readthedocs.io/en/...
  • 0
    @ViRaS oh great, didn't know. I'll start using them, and hopefully we start seeing more libraries implementing it
  • 1
    Whatever you do, if the job is done, then that's good
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