Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!not-for-mail From: Chris Angelico Newsgroups: comp.lang.python Subject: Re: Quote of the day Date: Tue, 17 May 2016 20:48:29 +1000 Lines: 35 Message-ID: References: <573acd5f$0$1603$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> <87twhxf5nl.fsf@elektro.pacujo.net> <87mvnp57s8.fsf@rudin.co.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 X-Trace: news.uni-berlin.de vQdw9TBNchfJ+N5PDDduuAqkFPVz8/qjP5CW2hfPLEvQ== Return-Path: X-Original-To: python-list@python.org Delivered-To: python-list@mail.python.org X-Spam-Status: OK 0.006 X-Spam-Evidence: '*H*': 0.99; '*S*': 0.00; 'broken': 0.03; 'great.': 0.07; 'api': 0.09; 'cc:addr:python-list': 0.09; 'app,': 0.09; 'porting': 0.09; 'underlying': 0.09; 'python': 0.10; 'python.': 0.11; 'java,': 0.15; '2016': 0.16; 'also:': 0.16; 'bugs.': 0.16; 'from:addr:rosuav': 0.16; 'from:name:chris angelico': 0.16; 'pipes': 0.16; 'received:74.125.82.46': 0.16; 'received:io': 0.16; 'received:psf.io': 0.16; 'sdk': 0.16; 'subprocess': 0.16; 'utterly': 0.16; 'wrote:': 0.16; 'basically': 0.18; 'tells': 0.18; 'touch.': 0.18; 'student': 0.20; 'cc:2**0': 0.20; 'cc:addr:python.org': 0.20; 'fix': 0.21; 'java': 0.22; 'code,': 0.23; 'component': 0.23; 'third-party': 0.23; 'header:In-Reply- To:1': 0.24; 'paul': 0.24; 'bugs': 0.27; 'least': 0.27; 'message- id:@mail.gmail.com': 0.27; "people's": 0.29; 'sure,': 0.29; 'asked': 0.29; 'code': 0.30; 'service,': 0.31; 'option': 0.31; 'knows': 0.32; 'language.': 0.32; 'options': 0.33; 'source': 0.33; 'third': 0.33; 'languages': 0.34; 'tue,': 0.34; 'received:google.com': 0.35; 'mine': 0.35; 'received:74.125.82': 0.35; 'but': 0.36; '(3)': 0.36; 'depends': 0.36; 'pm,': 0.36; 'subject:: ': 0.37; '(2)': 0.37; '(1)': 0.38; 'mean': 0.38; 'does': 0.39; 'subject:the': 0.39; 'unable': 0.39; 'some': 0.40; 'your': 0.60; 'no.': 0.62; 'back': 0.62; 'yes': 0.62; 'fire': 0.63; 'offering': 0.66; "they're": 0.66; 'virtually': 0.66; 'subject:day': 0.67; 'spend': 0.67; 'feeling': 0.72; 'friendly': 0.74; 'hoping': 0.77; 'chrisa': 0.84; 'fifty': 0.84; "it'd": 0.84; 'presumably': 0.84; 'subject:Quote': 0.84; 'to:none': 0.91; '.net,': 0.91 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:cc; bh=BS1NYZqdgYGZNfgrNCNFLfy7AyYNF+e66oWKknAqjrQ=; b=GQVQyzfuEomQ/0hM9nShuNJh89ISCosC96OJoru+92yzi6KVVxCSYlQ1ijiJExXhRY A9ShLCOv7SHmsSJliq4fqDs7XY4AxK7RjMhQEy73PGQGV7oGA3jPRP49UT5V/4drw3cH I9tvhKD8cpRiljuGckzcdpOekiJjXwdapCkYTD6vNNXrzDxWmm4DKlF11xa3+Udr9z0j 52b1y55B73Oy+gFIlNAXTju3oskwhlqc20vzZGAYfQj8sYNJf0g0WeC53a5bmthfSWNM H1Je28H6Ps0PLwvxm5DryN6Z81Ej8PNJfR8Do/Rji/R/YQrZIn0f9N3xCSHeN2b9h5/n 3rbg== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20130820; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date :message-id:subject:from:cc; bh=BS1NYZqdgYGZNfgrNCNFLfy7AyYNF+e66oWKknAqjrQ=; b=Wy60hDd0SZ48auK2fT76phdi7sgNKNiWke2jWqcwYAsFRRYzEn7irKx+U2sEiFQplQ EL+5UZDUn/fBvLO7qL2baCbtDyibxzg2uVqfFksoG4dVNW/T5/gbiqaAH9ldNtnWhKL6 s5IiKjzl7rqFP4uh/cxeHO22poUr3aIhBTeDutsrm/zamlrOM6g8wGnB2Rkqi7ODsJKE 7ZMixT9j04+aPFBUeggakRXAhILenjbRGWqN9bIz/IWzuxzwsAaYGQ3PD/8NRE0Rw1p/ deU4/th6JHNM1wZPvUk8PAhyqU4KQ04SzLRwECfJlzyFFZPJZztZIINCAl6SD1nWjFbh iGDQ== X-Gm-Message-State: AOPr4FU7IuOJ87ZI3ZyvJj0N0Cav81Sqko/YPN8wdWETqzwaTa6Qc977fQj8y5a+pQyzeW1q7o+11SVCrVKImw== X-Received: by 10.28.44.87 with SMTP id s84mr686308wms.61.1463482109741; Tue, 17 May 2016 03:48:29 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <87mvnp57s8.fsf@rudin.co.uk> X-BeenThere: python-list@python.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.22 Precedence: list List-Id: General discussion list for the Python programming language List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-Mailman-Original-Message-ID: X-Mailman-Original-References: <573acd5f$0$1603$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> <87twhxf5nl.fsf@elektro.pacujo.net> <87mvnp57s8.fsf@rudin.co.uk> Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:108733 On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 7:54 PM, Paul Rudin wrote: >> Also: >> >> With a third party solution I don't need to fix the bugs. >> >> But with an in-house solution I at least *can* fix the bugs. >> >> The feeling of powerlessness can be crushing when you depend on a >> third-party component that is broken with no fix in sight. >> >> > > Presumably it depends on whether you have the source for the third party > component... Yes and no. A student of mine asked me how hard it would be to use in Python a service that provided Java, .NET, and a couple of other SDKs, but not Python. Source is available for them, sure, but they're so massive and complicated that it's utterly impractical. (I had been hoping the SDKs were basically just offering a friendly API to an underlying HTTP-based service, but no.) So the options were (1) use Jython so the Java SDK became usable, or (2) fire off a subprocess that does the work and pipes it back to your app, or (3) spend about fifty years porting a gigantic lot of code to a new language. And if there'd been bugs in any of the code, well, options 1 and 2 mean my student (who knows Python but none of the SDK languages on offer) would be completely unable to fix it, source or no source - and with option 3, it'd make the port virtually impossible. Having the source available is great. It tells you which projects you DON'T want to touch. ChrisA fully aware that some of his projects will be in other people's "DON'T want to touch" boxes