Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

I'm never liked this list, mostly due to Python but I think other languages are also incorrectly characterized. Guido worked on ABC and wanted something for scripting tasks on a Unix machine. Python was mostly inspired by ABC but some of the syntax was inspired by Modula 3.

Python is certainly not a reaction to Perl, I'm not sure Guido was aware of it when Python was born (they are close to the same age, actually).




> I think other languages are also incorrectly characterized

Agreed. This stems from a neat idea, but I think it's an after the fact rationalization (except for a few that are provably correct, like J). For example, C++ didn't stem from a direct frustration with C:

"Stroustrup found that Simula had features that were very helpful for large software development, but the language was too slow for practical use, while BCPL was fast but too low-level to be suitable for large software development."[0]

This list is cute, and provides good "taglines" for the languages, but I think it'd be met with a larger grain of salt if it hadn't been written by PG. :)

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/?title=C%2B%2B#History




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: