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*sigh* I KNEW better. I knew better when I wrote it. My previous comments with respect to language verbosity, etc. have already resulted in a friend asking me “where’s that code? It’s probably not a good comparison.” I KNEW better. *grin*

For what it’s worth…I’m sure it wasn’t a good comparison. But the most important point to note is that I DON’T CARE…however, me writing about it in that fashion made it seem like I did. I implied that the reason I don’t use C# and Java is that they’re wordy…a technical reason. Let me be clear. That is not the reason I don’t use those languages. I just happened to be in a hyped-up mood, so I let the comment fly!

I’m a Free Software advocate, first and foremost, not an Open Source one. My first, primary consideration is the freedom of the tool. I’ll compare perl and python, ruby and lisp, pike and C, all on equal footing. When I complete my technical, aesthetic, and personal/irrational preference decisions, I’ll pick one. But non-free software isn’t even in the race to start with.

And yes… Mono will eventually be something to consider. And soon, even (I already have the debs installed, actually)…which will give C# a foot in the door. But I’ll be comparing C#/Mono (with it’s limitations on class availability, whatever they end up as) to Python, not MS/C#, or Rotor, or anything else. It’s a philosophical choice, not a technical one.

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Wow. I just finished a bloghop that ended in a stark reminder of one of the reasons I like Python so much.

I’m keeping this deliberately vague (because it’s all too easy nowadays to google your way through genericized info to the source ); no specifics.

Not that I’m slamming anyone too hard…but I hang out in different “net circles” normally, so it’s enlightening to be reminded occasionally: a) what weak excuses for “articles” can end up on rah-rah big-acronym developer sites, and b) how freakin’ WORDY both Java and C# are! I don’t think I’m letting any cat out of a bag by admitting it was an article about doing…um, something *grin* that compared the code between the two.

One was 27 lines (this was just example stuff), one was 24 lines. I didn’t run the code…but the output was compared (it needed to be the same), and all the code was doing was displaying to the screen. Same output in Python? 3 lines. Amazing.

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Excellent! After the Py magazine website disppeared a couple of days ago, the
good news is that it’s reappeared , and it looks like publication will continue (albeit under new ownership). Congrats to Bryan Richard for managing to keep Pyzine alive. No knocks from here…I imagine real magazine publishing is pretty challenging. Good luck, Bryan! Do you have a new blog or anything? Your Pyzine link is down…

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Well, after much head-scratching and attempts at doing things the easy way, I’ve found at least one (not hard, but relatively PITA) way of getting songs from pressplay onto our MP3 players. Download, make portable…BURN TO CD-RW *sigh*, then rip back off as MP3. Isn’t that simple? Neither of the MP3 players in my house support WMA, so that wasn’t an option. (and no, I’m not going to buy a new player to play music that I’m already paying a monthly fee and a “make portable” charge to get!).

I have discovered another option, however. Use pressplay to find the music I like…and then go buy the CD at a secondhand music store. (and no, I don’t buy CDs, rip them, and then re-sell them. If I rip it, I keep it.) I see no need to encourage the insanity beyond the level absolutely required; if I can get my music via secondhand stores, and thus avoid further fattening the coffers of the clueless record labels , then I will. Yep…that also means the artists don’t get a new sale either (at least I assume it does; I really have no idea if there’s any licensing/royalty payments involved at used CD stores). But I’m sick and tired of being considered a criminal because I want to listen to music I already own in a particular format.