Re: Python Was: [Mldonkey-users] getting frustrated

[Ken Bradshaw]

vnc wrote:
> what about java? In combination with gcj its a very nice team. Just look 
> at g2gui.

java has a low power of expression. You need a lot of code to accomplish 
things. This is mandatory for big projects implying lots of "industrial" 
programmers (i.e., not very commited to their task), but the overhead is 
not worth it for small projects IMHO. This means also that it is easy to 
develop bad java programs, as people tend to loose the vison of the big 
picture with all the details.

> Well, this whole "mldonkey-crisis" is going around at this moment 
> because there is no active coder for the core. This will hopefully 
> change in a few weeks. 

I have been around lots of Open Source projects (and led some). Most of 
them slow down after 2--3 years when the software is basically "good 
enough", and them the project dies. Very few are able to recover.
Mldonkey seems to be in this kind of crisis now.

> As for python... python is very nice, but its kinda slow, compared to 
> compiled languages.

As soon as you are dealing with network access, everything is fast enough.

> Java should be a bit more faster, native 
> compilations with gcj are a big plus. This is AFAIK not possible with 
> python.

Java however have some handicaps: most library classes are in java 
(python ones are in C), and it tends to gobble huge amount of memory. A 
swapping program will be slower than a smaller one, be it compiled or not.

> Also, Bittorrent does not have to handle as many packets and lists as 
> the mldonkey core has to. My personal guess would be that something 
> data-intensive like the mldonkey core implemented in python would be at 
> least a bit /problematic/.

I would bet the opposite. Java data structures consume lots of memory.
And I have been doing programming in interpreted languages for 15 years, 
back in the time of 4M ram 8Mhz machines. Beleive me, interpreted 
languages can perform LOTS of operations while waiting for packets on 
the network.

However, java has good points: it is statically typed (so if your 
program compiles, it will more likely run OK than a python one where you 
must be sure to test all cases), and is widely known. Java would be much 
better for bringing new hands to help than ocaml, for sure!