age of Python programmers

[Christos TZOTZIOY Georgiou]

[snip]

The most
positive experiences were Sinclair QL-basic, [snip]

I'll drink to that!

PS If only IBM had initially chosen a Motorola CPU for their PC...

 

[huy]

Dave> Python fits my brain.

I agree. This gets my nod for QOTW.

Skip

Lucky for me I found python before Java took over my brain.

Huy

 

[Martin Bless]

One thing I've always kind of wondered is what is the average age of a
Python programmer??

49.

Started 1974 punching cards for an IBM 1130 machine. A highlight: Fill
a complete program with two interrupt routines into a single punch
card. It would write something like "job defect" on the typewriter
console. Just one card means: you can use just 80 words of code on
that 16-bit machine. And since a column on a card only had 12 rows
your could use only a special subset of availabe machine instructions.

Then there came the TRS-80. I'm still proud of the way I stored my Z80
assembler routines in REM lines of a basic program. That way I could
easily merge und bundle those "machine language" routines. Yes, I
lived very much in the book with the ROM disassembly listing those
days ;-)

And I remember taking a (INTER-) LISP course. I liked it alot but
never managed to be productive with LISP.

Now I have what I need to have fun *and* accomplish useful things:
Python! Many thanks to all who help developing this cool language!

MB - Martin Bless

 

[Ville Vainio]

"Christos" == TZOTZIOY <Christos> writes:

Christos> On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 10:23:16 +0200, rumours say that

>> The most
>> positive experiences were Sinclair QL-basic, [snip]

Christos> I'll drink to that!

Apparently there is some good karma in Sinclair QL - Linus also used
to hack on it.

I had MSX (SVI-728), which probably steered me more towards coding
than C64 would have (most friends had one of those, along with 500+
games ;-) - it had a decent basic (MS basic) from Microsoft's pre-evil
era.

Ah, even seeing the SVI-728 acronym puts me on the nostalgy train...

 

[Reid Nichol]

Very cool. It might be good idea to add a date and time at the top,
since new datapoint keep coming in?

How about labels for the axes as well.

and then a quantum leap towards Python.

You're aware that a quantum leap means a extremely small leap, right?

 

[Mark Jackson]

Gerrit Muller wrote:
You're aware that a quantum leap means a extremely small leap, right?

Everything's relative - compared to the smallest possible change in the
classical continuum, a quantum leap is *huge*.

 

[Roel Schroeven]

How about labels for the axes as well.

I thought it would be fairly obvious, but I added labels anyway. I'm not
satisfied with there positioning though, and I don't know how to correct
it (it's the first time ever I use matplotlib).

 

[Tim Hochberg]

How about labels for the axes as well.



You're aware that a quantum leap means a extremely small leap, right?

While quanta are typically very-very-very small, last I checked the key
feature of quantum transitions is not that they're small, but that there
are no intermediate steps. The object is in state A then it's in state
B, but it's never halfway (or anywhere) between. Like most quantum stuff
it's better not to think about that too closely.

-tim

 

[Reid Nichol]

Lucky for me I found python before Java took over my brain.

Huy

Amen to that!

 

[Peter Hansen]

While quanta are typically very-very-very small, last I checked the key
feature of quantum transitions is not that they're small, but that there
are no intermediate steps. The object is in state A then it's in state
B, but it's never halfway (or anywhere) between. Like most quantum stuff
it's better not to think about that too closely.

And at least some dictionaries give it as a synonym for "large"
or "significant". (www.m-w.com for one)

-Peter

 

[beliavsky]

One thing I've always kind of wondered is what is the average age of a
Python programmer?? What age groups use Python?? Something to think
about....

Related question -- at what age can Python be taught to a bright, motivated child?

 

[Jarek Zgoda]

Related question -- at what age can Python be taught to a bright, motivated child?

My daughter is 3 months old and I can be authoritative -- it's too
early. Although she's bright and motivated, of course.

 

[Peter Hansen]

Related question -- at what age can Python be taught to a bright, motivated child?

I expect to be old enough to teach Python to a bright, motivated
child or two (maybe even mine) in a few more years. ;-)

-Peter

 

[Jeff Shannon]

While quanta are typically very-very-very small, last I checked the
key feature of quantum transitions is not that they're small, but that
there are no intermediate steps. The object is in state A then it's in
state B, but it's never halfway (or anywhere) between. Like most
quantum stuff it's better not to think about that too closely.

And let's note, here, that "quantum" is not by any means restricted to
the domain of quantum-mechanical physics. It's true that, within that
domain, quanta are almost always a very small amount. But, as Tim says,
the important feature of a quantum is that it's the smallest possible
change of a given measurement, and implies a discrete (rather than
continuum) underpinning to that measurement. It just so happens that
the most well-known and talked-about quantum domains are related to
subatomic physics, where the quanta involved are indeed very very small;
but there's no /a priori/ restriction of quanta to apply only in that field.

Jeff Shannon
Technician/Programmer
Credit International

 

[Reid Nichol]

Everything's relative - compared to the smallest possible change in the
classical continuum, a quantum leap is *huge*.

True, but this doesn't change the definition of the word.

from dictionary.reference.com:
The smallest amount of a physical quantity that can exist independently,
especially a discrete quantity of electromagnetic radiation.

 

[Reid Nichol]

While quanta are typically very-very-very small, last I checked the key
feature of quantum transitions is not that they're small, but that there
are no intermediate steps. The object is in state A then it's in state
B, but it's never halfway (or anywhere) between. Like most quantum stuff
it's better not to think about that too closely.

-tim

Check the definition of the word.

 

[Reid Nichol]

And at least some dictionaries give it as a synonym for "large"
or "significant". (www.m-w.com for one)

-Peter

Such things are only the result of a misunderstanding of the word some
time ago. Even though it is wrong, it has become common use, thus the
incorrect definition definition(s).

 

[Tim Hochberg]

Tim Hochberg wrote:
[SNIP]

While quanta are typically very-very-very small, last I checked the
key feature of quantum transitions is not that they're small, but that
there are no intermediate steps. The object is in state A then it's in
state B, but it's never halfway (or anywhere) between. Like most
quantum stuff it's better not to think about that too closely.

-tim

Check the definition of the word.

May I ask why? I assume you mean this (from another post):

from dictionary.reference.com:
The smallest amount of a physical quantity that can exist
independently, especially a discrete quantity of electromagnetic
> radiation.

I fail to see a signifigant conflict between this definition of quantum
and what I wrote above about quantum transitions. I'll even go out on a
limb and speculate that the origin of the term "quantum leap" is with
quantum, probably atomic, transitions and refers to a change where there
are no intermediate states and not "The smallest possible leap that can
exist".

[checks]

You might look at this, also from dictionary.reference.com:

quantum leap

A dramatic advance, especially in knowledge or method, as in
Establishing a central bank represents a quantum leap in this small
country's development. This term originated as quantum jump in the
mid-1900s in physics, where it denotes a sudden change from one energy
state to another within an atom. Within a decade it was transferred to
other advances, not necessarily sudden but very important ones.

-tim

 

[Reid Nichol]

You might look at this, also from dictionary.reference.com:

quantum leap

A dramatic advance, especially in knowledge or method, as in
Establishing a central bank represents a quantum leap in this small
country's development. This term originated as quantum jump in the
mid-1900s in physics, where it denotes a sudden change from one energy
state to another within an atom. Within a decade it was transferred to
other advances, not necessarily sudden but very important ones.

You're aware of how big an atom is right? And people don't typically
suddenly change from one language to another. They'll tend to change
gradually if only because the people at work won't like an inflection
point with regards to such matters. It makes support hell.

 

[Mark Jackson]

True, but this doesn't change the definition of the word.

from dictionary.reference.com:
The smallest amount of a physical quantity that can exist independently,
especially a discrete quantity of electromagnetic radiation.

Check the definition of the word.

Peter Hansen wrote:

Such things are only the result of a misunderstanding of the word some
time ago. Even though it is wrong, it has become common use, thus the
incorrect definition definition(s).

from which we conclude that "check the definition" means "check the
definition in the dictionary *I* prefer". . . .

You might look at this, also from dictionary.reference.com:

quantum leap

A dramatic advance, especially in knowledge or method, as in
Establishing a central bank represents a quantum leap in this small
country's development. This term originated as quantum jump in the
mid-1900s in physics, where it denotes a sudden change from one energy
state to another within an atom. Within a decade it was transferred to
other advances, not necessarily sudden but very important ones.

from which we conclude that "check the definition" means "check the
definition in the dictionary *I* prefer. . .AND stop reading before it
contradicts the position I espouse."

Look, given the use of "quantum" in quantum physics it's reasonable to
expect the word to mean something small - but insisting it must do so
is flat-out wrong. For one thing this isn't Gell-Mann appropriating a
nonsense word - "quark" - from Joyce; "quantum" was a perfectly good
English word before Planck applied it to black-body radiation. The OED
has references going back to 1619 as a synonym for quantity. (It even
has a use in pharmacology - "quant. suff!", famously chanted in Alfred
Bester's /The Stars My Destination/, is an abbreviation of "quantum
sufficit," roughly "as much as necessary.)