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On a python developers' mailing list for the core developers, Python Committers, Benevolent Dictator for Life Guido van Rossum has announced that he is stepping down effective immediately and with out appointing a successor.
Now that PEP 572 is done, I don't ever want to have to fight so hard for a
PEP and find that so many people despise my decisions.I would like to remove myself entirely from the decision process. I'll
still be there for a while as an ordinary core dev, and I'll still be
available to mentor people -- possibly more available. But I'm basically
giving myself a permanent vacation from being BDFL, and you all will be on
your own.After all that's eventually going to happen regardless -- there's still
that bus lurking around the corner, and I'm not getting younger... (I'll
spare you the list of medical issues.)I am not going to appoint a successor.
[...] I'll still be here, but I'm trying to let you all figure something out for
yourselves. I'm tired, and need a very long break.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday July 13 2018, @11:26PM (2 children)
All hail the rising of the Squirrel [squirrel-lang.org]!
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Marand on Saturday July 14 2018, @05:24AM (1 child)
I fail to see the appeal of that versus Lua (or LuaJIT). They seem to fill the same "bare-bones embeddable scripting language" niche, but Lua is more common and better understood by people, which makes it a better choice in most situations. Furthermore, if you want something less bare-bones, Lua has some interesting compile-to-Lua projects such as the Python-esque MoonScript [moonscript.org] or, if you favour lisps like I do, Urn [urn-lang.com].
These compile-to-Lua options are especially compelling, IMO, because they compile down to standalone Lua source that can be used in standard embedded Lua interpreters without any special support needed. That means you can use a more featureful language — Urn gives you more functional programming niceties, while MoonScript will be comfortable to anyone familiar with Python's way of doing things — while still having Lua as a lowest common denominator for people already familiar with it. It's a two-for-one deal, basically: you embed one language (Lua) and give users the choice of an easy, ubiquitous language by using it directly, or two more expressive, powerful ones by using Urn or MoonScript.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Saturday July 14 2018, @11:11AM
A) it was a joke
B) in seriousness: you have to look at the timelines to understand why. Squirrel was coming up before Python exploded onto the scene, and even after the initial Python explosion Squirrel was a little better in some important ways (to their 6 users, at least).
C) Not Invented Here is a big thing, especially among control freaks.
D) Similar reasoning applies to LUA and essentially any other language you might try to convince one of the lonely Squirrel devotees to convert to.
E) it was a joke.
F) I spent 6 months at a company teaching them things like: you don't run the build server that took you 10 man-years to build/maintain in a single, non-backed up desktop box (on a 5 year old spinning hard drive, no less!), while helping them to migrate away from Squirrel to Qt/C++ (yes, it's pears and bananas, but bananas were a pretty good fit for their applications, especially at that time). After 6 months I got a much better offer elsewhere, and their Squirrel devotee was convinced to come back into the fold, so I'm guessing that Squirrel lives on in that shop.
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]