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Groups > comp.lang.python > #8718
| From | Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | comp.lang.python |
| Subject | Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! |
| Date | 2011-07-03 15:57 +1200 |
| Message-ID | <97a7kiFsn7U1@mid.individual.net> (permalink) |
| References | (2 earlier) <f6c4263c-60c7-488e-9f6f-254f8bd0711d@m18g2000vbl.googlegroups.com> <41f31477-48ee-4a8a-ab2d-87073a918996@r18g2000vbs.googlegroups.com> <mailman.574.1309655550.1164.python-list@python.org> <6dd92755-c8e9-47ef-aa08-ffffbc3d1893@5g2000yqb.googlegroups.com> <0ebac153-0e0d-49fd-96c0-af9f40fbf222@q1g2000vbj.googlegroups.com> |
The place where this "Unity API" idea of yours falls down
is that an API is only truly easy to use when it's designed
to closely match the characteristics of the language it's
being used from.
For example, Python has a very powerful feature that most
other languages don't have anything remotely like: very
flexible keyword arguments.
A truly Pythonic API will take advantage of them wherever
it makes sense. An extreme example is PyGUI, where you can
write things like
win = Window(title = "Fred", width = 300, height = 100,
position = (30, 50), movable = True, resizable = True)
In fact, almost *any* attribute of any PyGUI object can be
specified using keyword arguments in the constructor. In
your typical C or C++ based API, either you have a constructor
taking a zillion positional parameters that all have to be
in the right order, or you have to set all the attributes
individually afterwards:
win = Window()
win.title = "Fred"
win.width = 300
win.height = 100
win.position = (30, 50)
win.movable = True
win.resizable = True
Either way you end up with an API that feels very awkward
when used from Python.
--
Greg
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The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 15:59 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-03 09:38 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 16:46 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2011-07-02 20:09 -0500
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 17:21 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-03 10:36 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-07-03 16:06 +1200
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 17:58 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-03 11:12 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 18:43 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-03 11:49 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 19:24 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-03 13:14 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 21:13 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 19:08 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-07-03 15:57 +1200
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 21:34 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-03 14:46 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2011-07-03 02:59 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-07-03 16:00 +1200
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-02 21:42 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! alex23 <wuwei23@gmail.com> - 2011-07-03 22:06 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-04 09:35 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 03:19 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-05 09:24 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2011-07-04 19:09 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 18:07 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 12:31 +1000
Microsoft GUIs (was: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come!) (OT) Andrew Berg <bahamutzero8825@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 23:13 -0500
Re: Microsoft GUIs (was: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come!) (OT) Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 14:25 +1000
Re: Microsoft GUIs Andrew Berg <bahamutzero8825@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 23:53 -0500
Re: Microsoft GUIs Andrew Berg <bahamutzero8825@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 00:29 -0500
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2011-07-05 22:26 -0700
Re: Microsoft GUIs Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 15:43 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 15:47 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-07-06 19:15 +1200
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-06 21:46 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2011-07-06 09:55 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! alex23 <wuwei23@gmail.com> - 2011-07-04 19:31 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! sal migondis <salmig99@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 11:14 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Andrew Berg <bahamutzero8825@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 16:01 -0500
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 08:36 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2011-07-05 22:26 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2011-07-07 15:10 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Andrew Berg <bahamutzero8825@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 00:37 -0500
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-06 21:45 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! sal migondis <salmig99@gmail.com> - 2011-07-08 12:05 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2011-07-08 13:21 -0600
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! alex23 <wuwei23@gmail.com> - 2011-07-04 19:36 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-07-04 19:36 +1200
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 04:42 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Corey Richardson <kb1pkl@aim.com> - 2011-07-05 12:04 -0400
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-05 15:35 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 08:49 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2011-07-05 18:21 -0500
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-06 21:44 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 06:41 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 23:52 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Neil Cerutti <neilc@norwich.edu> - 2011-07-06 15:13 +0000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-07 00:55 +1000
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! rantingrick <rantingrick@gmail.com> - 2011-07-06 08:33 -0700
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Teemu Likonen <tlikonen@iki.fi> - 2011-07-06 19:55 +0300
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2011-07-06 19:05 +1200
Re: The end to all language wars and the great unity API to come! Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-07-03 13:21 +1000
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