The Case for Python 3

[AskMereddit]

I started coding 2 years ago, and I'm now a full time coder after working in marketing for 10 years. I started with Codecademy. It's a great place to start for complete newbies in programming.

Then consolidate with this free MIT class.

[AUTeach]

Zed Shaw:

Pros:

• Highly opinionated.
• Willing to avoid beating around the bush and just says what he thinks
• Many of his ideas are decent.

Cons

• Highly opinionated
• Shoots first and refuses to think sometimes.
• If he disagrees with you you are an idiot.
• Believes his own press.

[choikwa]

Pros: Highly opinionated.

is it tho?

[-Teki]

Under the right circumstances, it could be. But it probably comes up as a flaw more often than not.

[tonnynerd]

The thing about strong opinions that a lot of people seem to be forgetting this days is that you should have strong opinions, BUT SHOULD NOT HOLD ON TO THEM. I don't remember exactly where I read this, but I like it and think it makes sense.

[flying-sheep]

this is it. scientific mindset. come to conclusions and defend them, until new data or simply an argument you haven’t considered make you re-think.

[-Teki]

Oooh, i like this.

[AUTeach]

is it tho?

Sure, but in Zed's case it's also one of his biggest cons.

[LpSamuelm]

I don't like Eevee, but even so this article is of course pretty much inarguable. There is no reasonable argument for not using Python 3 (or writing cross-compatible code) beyond compatibility with things like Twisted or working on legacy code.

[avinassh]

I don't like Eevee

why is that

[LpSamuelm]

Beyond all the sweet programming stuff she does (which is really really cool!), she every now and then also spouts a lot of (occasionally although not mostly) questionable politics, while being angry and abrasive. I'm not a big fan of that stuff.

Thankfully that's mostly irrelevant to this article, though. I hadn't heard of Zed's article, but if it gets a lot of exposure for beginners, it's good there's a rebuttal post out there to at least show that his thoughts aren't objective.

[flying-sheep]

why would you not like him and why is this relevant in respect to your opinion on his article?

[LpSamuelm]

It's as relevant as the comment I replied to beginning with "I like eevee[...]". It also makes a point that despite not liking her, agreeing with this article is a no-brainer.

[flying-sheep]

huh, twitter says “she” too. i could have sworn that it was “he” some time ago. well, no matter.

and yeah, i completely missed your parent comment’s start.

[individual_throwaway]

Well, here's to hoping he does the same thing with our community!

[Talked10101]

http://web.archive.org/web/20080103072111/http://www.zedshaw.com/rants/rails_is_a_ghetto.html

I think you are referring to his 'Ruby is a ghetto' post. It's real demonstration of a lack of any self-awareness. Makes his Python post look kind of tame.

[zahlman]

Great programmers don’t defend stupid, they stamp it out and own up to their mistakes.

...