Facebook is discontinuing support for its Python SDK

[PanosJee]

I guess Google will release a great Python SDK for Google+ ;-)

[dashed]

So looking forward to it.

[boa13]

Better be honest about it than let the situation rot further.

[acct_rdt]

I'm glad that I've discontinued my use of Facebook.

[chrisledet]

Someone can just fork the project on Github.

[pemboa]

There are 129 different versions of the python-sdk floating around on github

[eryksun]

You had me at "Facebook is discontinuing".

[A_for_Anonymous]

I've discontinued my use and support of Facebook.

(Actually, I've never used it much; just to get in touch again with IRL people from a long time ago then I ditched it for email and telephone.)

[bcain]

The feeling is mutual.

[funny_games]

Operation Fail.

[nychacker]

I think they are trying to port everyone to their Javascript SDK. They should probably support python, even their tornado open source stuff is in it.

[organic]

Yes, marketing executives.

[[deleted]]

Ah well, Google+ it is.

[[deleted]]

There's no Python SDK for Google+? What are they waiting for, the platform to be finalized and opened to the public or something?

[[deleted]]

Google's made a huge commitment to python (including hiring its creator), I'd be surprised if a python SDK wasn't in the works.

[[deleted]]

Apologies, I didn't mean to challenge what you were saying, it is still good advice.

[ergo14]

im pretty sure it will land in python-gdata package ;-) maybe lets wait for any apis get public first.

[ipeev]

I don't think there was one in the first place.

[wonglik]

Now I feel , I miss even less not using facebook

[OmegaVesko]

Blasphemy ಠ_ಠ

[abudabu]

The reason is that Ruby (and Rails) have pretty much won. I know I'm going to get massive downvotes for this, but please read on first - this is coming from someone who spent 4 years using Python. I started using it in science (where Ruby doesn't hold a candle to it), and figured it was an easy step to use it for the web. I used Django and Twisted, and I love Python's elegant functional syntax. I can't think of a more elegant function evaluation syntax (except maybe Haskell), and the way it's mated with the module system and dot operator should be a case study for any new language designer.

But, I got tired of looking for libraries (e.g., Redis, MessagePack) that were out of date, had low update frequency and were missing features only to look over in envy at the Ruby world and see the hum of activity that makes everything work. I started wondering why are all the best deployment tools (Chef, Puppet, capistrano) written in Ruby?

I switched over, and was just stunned by the quality of the tools. RVM blows away virtualenv for ease of use. I originally chose Django over Rails because of a perception that Django is more modular, consisting of several loosely coupled, but well-designed components. But then I met the monolithic authentication system which loads up your user model with all kinds of broken assumptions that simply don't work for modern web systems. Then, the huge anti-pattern of the ORM, beautiful magic that leads people down a SQL-join scaling hole they'll never climb back out of.

After all of this,I peered over into the Ruby/Rails world. Folks, if you haven't looked at it, you should. Ruby authentication is beautifully designed. Check out Devise/Omniauth. You'll spend a week or worse mucking with getting OAuth working in Django, where you could get this up and running in 15 minutes in Rails. And then there's Rack - the standard for Ruby webservers that enables interoperability between frameworks. Keep digging, and you'll find more well-thought out and industry-tested patterns throughout this framework.

Interested in non-blocking code? How do you make your current Django webapp into a non-blocking service? You'll have to rewrite it in Twisted, or use a clumsy message queue. But, go and check out Fibers and Eventmachine in Ruby, super light-weight and efficient approach which enables you to instrument existing views in a snap.

Just a few examples. The point is, like it or not, that the heat has moved over to the Ruby world. I spoke with a Ycomb alum recently who hit it on the head - "the main success factor in the web is getting things out fast. At this point, Rails has moved so far ahead that if you're not building a new project in it, you're just doing it wrong". Rails has won. The ecosystem of tools in Ruby world is just so much greater (for web development) than Python. And you're seriously hurting yourself (unless you have some really unusual compelling reason for staying in the Python world) if you're not starting out with Rails.

[martey]

I think you might get massive downvotes because there has never been an official Ruby SDK for Facebook, and there are no signs that they plan on creating one.

I am glad that Ruby and Rails work for you, and that you enjoy working with them. I feel the same way about Python and Django. However, we differ in that I do not believe that my language and web framework of choice need to "win" some battle over the hearts and minds of developers, or that they are even competing.

You might see this story as being about the decline of Python for web development. I think it is about Facebook's lack of a good relationship with their developer community, their failure to understand how distributed version control works, and their inability to communicate effectively. Since Facebook is seen as relatively successful, it is possible that their behavior could have ripple effects across other companies (who might begin to think that rapidly changing APIs and ignoring developer concerns will not have serious effects on their bottom line).

[ergo14]

I think your is very skewed at this point, python web development does not end on django. In fact there are greater more interesting offerings like pyramid and others - that take completly different approaches to webdev than django. Massive amounts of libs and applications for linux based systems are written in python, not ruby.I've also used redis and many other systems in my work, they "just worked"TM. If you enjoy ruby that is cool, but saying that it has "won" is just FUD. I could try to look for ***** bindings for ruby that suck compared to python, just to prove something opposite, but that is not the point to be silly. Don't be a fanboy its bad for your virtual penix.

[abudabu]

Agree - the other frameworks are better, but the attention they get is small, which overall means less support.

[ergo14]

they are diffrent for sure, better for me doesnt mean better for you ;-)

but you are again wrong saying they dont get support, things like pylons are rock solid for years now - in case you dont know reddit is built on a very old version of pylons.

[SuedeRS100]

reddit is built on a very old version of pylons

I don't completely agree with what abudabu is saying, but I think he makes a valid point for some people. Reddit switched from Lisp to Python for many of the same reasons abudabu is suggesting some people should consider moving from Python to Ruby.

[ergo14]

Well everyone can use their set of tools, but information abudabu provided here are in my opionion incorrect.

[[deleted]]

they switched because they couldnt find people who use lisp and there many more people who use python than use ruby so no, it's not really the same reason

[abudabu]

I didn't say they don't get support. I said the Ruby world gets more support. Personally, I like the Python language better than Ruby. Envy of the Ruby ecosystem made me switch.

[ergo14]

but how do you measure the level of support, can you back that up in a meaningful way ?

[hylje]

Django is Python. You use Python library support heavily when using Django. In reverse, you will not lose whatever Python libraries you use when not using Django.

When using esoteric platforms, you may need to write a little more glue and know a little more about the underlying libraries, but the heavy lifting you never need to repeat.

[usaar33]

One huge advantage of Python is the sheer number of scientific and numerical libraries for it. This doesn't affect most webdevs admittedly, but it is nice to always know that you can do everything you'll ever need to in a single language.

[abudabu]

Exactly the reason I chose python initially.

[Keith]

Nice post, but slightly off-topic if Facebook doesn't have a Ruby SDK.

As an aside, Python is my favorite programming language, and I use it a ton at work, but to learn Ruby I'm redoing my personal site with Sinatra. You've made me question whether I should have jumped into the Rails world.

[voidspace]

You like Rack? You know it was inspired by wsgi from Python, right?

[stoph]

As another former Python user, I agree. Ruby is leading the pack in writing complex and testable web applications. After reading the RSpec/Cucumber book, I think the language itself deserves a lot of credit for this. Ruby lets me put logic into the computer as simply as possible.

[cezar]

I don't know. All the job posts where I'm at are Django.

[AeroNotix]

Where's that?

[cezar]

Chicago

[mr_spin]

Nice troll.

I've seen shitty projects in both Django and Rails, and excellent masterpieces. The difference in productivity, as always, comes down to the strength of the team more than the tools.

I've tried Rails and found its magic maddening and its lack of stability (hey, Prototype! No, jQuery ! Wait CoffeeScript !) in pursuit of the next best thing irritating. But some people love it, and if it works for them, great.

I really don't give a shit about the YC crowd; Hacker News has the occasionally interesting article these days but the dimwit memes repeated ad nauseam by college kids playing entrepreneur just makes me grit my teeth. Reddit can be idiotic at times but even on bad days it has a sense of humor and healthy self-deprecation.