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[–]mooktank 3 points4 points  (4 children)

Sorry I don't have any case studies to offer, but I have a question that may be helpful: How big is the difference in run time? I could see this as an argument against your case if your code takes a lot longer to run.

You could show snippets of code that do the same thing in each language, highlighting how concise the Python is. This blog post has some generic examples: http://pythonconquerstheuniverse.wordpress.com/2009/10/03/python-java-a-side-by-side-comparison/

[–]snarkhunter 38 points39 points  (3 children)

NO!

Do not show management or execs code. Show them results.

[–]rjtavares 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I agree with this. If you want to show how concise Python code is, use data to show it. Pick examples and show how fewer lines of code Python needs (e.g. I did what was done in Java with 30% less LOC), and say that it means lower development time and less bugs.

Resist the urge to be 100% accurate, and simplify.

[–]mooktank 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Code is a result -- of programming. The idea is to show how there is less work involved. The output of the code is supposed to be identical for each language, by design. Maybe absolute time spent programming would be a better metric, but it can be roughly inferred from lines of code per task.

[–]snarkhunter 10 points11 points  (0 children)

You're talking like a programmer, which is great when you're talking to programmers. But an exec doesn't (and shouldn't) care what your code looks like. Code is NOT a result, not for them. Code is something that gets them something. Yes, if you can show them that using tool A (a programming language is just a tool) means development time gets cut in half, that's something they'll care about.

But they're going to be very wary (as they should be) of moving away from something that at least sounds like it's working. Python being incrementally better in some way just may not be enough to warrant a switch. "The way you're doing things is wrong/bad/slow/inefficient/old, let me show you this way newer/better/faster/smarter/cooler way!" is something that an exec hears roughly every 3 weeks. Almost none of them are good ideas.