On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 5:43 PM, Martin Chiteri <martin.chiteri@gmail.com> wrote:

Sorry, a little clarification on my question:

This is also true, but if given two or more programs written with equal clarity, which one would you prefer supposing they solve the same problem in exact measures but differ in their brevity (some are longer, others are shorter)?

Martin.

On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 5:38 PM, Martin Chiteri <martin.chiteri@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi @Rad,

On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 5:01 PM, Rad! <conradakunga@gmail.com> wrote:

Lines of code is a completely outdated metric.

This still matters, especially when you have to maintain software developed by many people over many years. The first concern is the time it takes to write the program (Man-months / years), and by extension this affects the cost in monetary terms. The lesser the SLOC the better in my opinion, especially for those of us who are not as good at handling complexity as well.

And cooling lines of code with maintain ability is a demonstrably false assertion. Maintainability is not a function of lines of code. It is a function of the clairity of code, algorithmic design, control flow, etc

This is also true, but if given two or more programs written with equal clarity, which one would you prefer supposing they solve the same problem in exact measures? It may also help to also note that in the real world, much more time is spent in maintaining software than writing "new" lines of code.

On the other hand well written Python and Ruby are sources are *unUsually* readable, don't you think so? Compared to say the same functionality say expressed in JAVA, C# or PHP? Some of the design decisions implicitly built into some of these languages is the ability to make them more readable and maintainable

Finally, if lines of code were a consideration, Lisp and its children (scheme, CAML, etc) areeven more terse

This is also arguably true. Personally, I have never really wrapped my head around LISP, its descendants and its concepts. Maybe it was out of not trying too much .....

Martin.

P.S: The reason the example given are metrics on LISP is that Norvig is probably the greatest LISPer alive (besides Paul Hamming [ www.paulgraham.com/ ] ) and the late John McCarthy.

On Tuesday, June 26, 2012, Martin Chiteri wrote:

Well, the article itself does not have "hard" numbers to support their premises. There is an example here [ http://norvig.com/python-lisp.html ], for starters.

Martin.

On 6/26/12, Rad! <conradakunga@gmail.com> wrote:
> Absolutely absurd article.
>
> Lines of code as a metic?
>
> On Tuesday, June 26, 2012, Martin Chiteri wrote:
>>
>> I agree with what @Gisho and @Brian say. Sometimes (actually most of the
>> times) it is immaterial what language you use. Your skill / experience
>> with it / them and the tools available make a larger difference. The
>> problem set approached may also be an important factor.
>>
>> What I found interesting is the kind of reaction the article sparked among
>> the PERL zealots
>> [ http://reliscore.com/blog/why-every-programmer-should-learn-python-or-ruby/ ].
>> It would have been amusing to see something similar on this list. :P
>>
>> Martin.
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 4:08 PM, gisho <gichuhie@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> i don't want to get into this but python delivers whats written on the
>>> tin (having coded with java/c#/vb/php/c++)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 4:02 PM, Brian Ngure <brian@pixie.co.ke> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Sigh, not again

>>>>
>>>> In any language, the problems that normally arise are usually PEBKAC.
>>>> Bad coding, bad decisions, etc...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 3:42 PM, Martin Chiteri
>>>> <martin.chiteri@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.coderbuzz.com/discussion/4/why-every-programmer-should-learn-python-or-ruby
>>>>>
>>>>> Martin.
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Regards
>>>>
>>>> Brian Ngure
>>>>
>>>>
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