Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!feeder.erje.net!eu.feeder.erje.net!news-1.dfn.de!news.dfn.de!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Neil Cerutti Newsgroups: comp.lang.python Subject: Re: [Off topic] Software epigrams Date: 15 May 2013 17:24:29 GMT Organization: Norwich University Lines: 36 Message-ID: References: <5190b049$0$29978$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: individual.net vF+U5NGUGxQsKlt0DYnF5Ao6rDjijwvpgmIICstkWJhcaWu5N1 Cancel-Lock: sha1:pJWyiYl1jeS27dAMBREamdBPpyQ= User-Agent: slrn/0.9.9p1/mm/ao (Win32) Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:45359 On 2013-05-13, F?bio Santos wrote: > > On 13 May 2013 19:48, "Neil Cerutti" wrote: >> >> On 2013-05-13, Skip Montanaro wrote: >> >> 8. A programming language is low level when its programs >> >> require attention to the irrelevant. >> >> >> >> So much a matter of debate. Indentation is irrelevant, why >> >> should Python programs pay attention to it? Block delimiters >> >> are irrelevant too, the interpreter should be able to figure >> >> them out from the code layout. But this one is absolutely >> >> right: >> > >> > I think "irrelevant" in this context means stuff like memory >> > management. >> >> I thought I liked that one at first, but upon reflection it >> speciously inserts the word "irrelevant" in order to avoid >> stating a tautology: A programming language is low level when its >> programs require attention to low level details. >> >> -- >> Neil Cerutti >> -- >> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list > > It's not a tautology in disguise. Irrelevant != low level. When > low level details are relevant to the scope of my program, I > use a low level language. It is a tautology is disguise. When you use a low level language, low level details are relevant to the scope of your program. -- Neil Cerutti