Joined At The Hip
Anyone remember this commercial (and the lead-in to it)?
If the kid is me, the doll is Python. Anywhere I go, it goes too. If I have a problem to solve, it’s the tool I reach for nine times out of ten. We’re like peas in a pod, Python and me.
In all seriousness, though, the comparison is apt. I’m a generalist at heart, and I don’t know of a better general-purpose programming language than Guido van Rossem’s masterpiece. Only recently did I make this association, but it fits.
As a team leader, I aim to be adequate or better with any part of the tech stack, so I can plug myself in wherever I’m needed. But it’s unlikely I’m the best one on my team at any of the tech either (in fact, if I am, the team probably doesn’t have an ideal mix of talent). That’s an awful lot like Python, which is the second-best language at everything:
- Need a quick one-off script? Bash is a bit faster to write, but Python is pretty easy also.
- Building microservices? Sure, Go is the new hotness, especially if performance is king. But most of the time Python will do the job just fine.
- Serverless? Oh yeah, Python is money, even if Node.js might be more popular.
- Doing data science? The nerds use R, but Python’s a great choice too.
- Putting together a giant enterprise application in all its OOP glory? Most would reach for Java, but object support in Python is great.
- Functional programming purist? Haskell is your language. But if you want to dabble, Python will get it done, and provide you more flexibility if you need to violate the paradigm for expediency.
Besides us both being generalists, Python and I are both minimalists. It eschews superfluous bits like delimiters, and you needn’t bother declaring types if you’re in a hurry and the situation doesn’t demand it. I also don’t like clutter, e.g. consider my primary workspace:
Did I mention Python is really easy to learn? And the community is great? And it’s just plain fun? As far as I’m concerned, Python is the Holy Grail.
P.S. It also has a great name. And that’s not nothing.