age of Python programmers

[Curt]

Re: age of Python programmers

On 2004-08-20, Reid Nichol <rnichol_rrc@ya hoo.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
> True, but this doesn't change the definition of the word.[/color]
[color=blue]
> from dictionary.refe rence.com:
> The smallest amount of a physical quantity that can exist independently,
> especially a discrete quantity of electromagnetic radiation.[/color]

That's the definition of the word "quantum"; it is not the definition of the
expression "quantum leap".

curty@einstein: ~$ dict "quantum leap"

1 definition found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

quantum leap
n : a sudden large increase or advance; "this may not insure
success but it will represent a quantum leap from last
summer" [syn: {quantum jump}]

[Paul Foley]

Re: age of Python programmers

On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 17:59:41 +0900, Ian J Cottee wrote:
[color=blue]
> http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=quantum%20leap[/color]
[color=blue]
> A dramatic advance, especially in knowledge or method, as in
> Establishing a central bank represents a quantum leap in this small
> country's development.[/color]

Establishing a central bank could hardly be called an advance,
dramatic or otherwise!

--
The State is the great fiction by which everyone seeks to live at the
expense of everyone else. -- Frédéric Bastiat

(setq reply-to
(concatenate 'string "Paul Foley " "<mycroft" '(#\@) "actrix.gen.nz> "))

[Dominic]

Re: age of Python programmers


I am 25 years old and I use Python at least since version 1.5.
I have started programming on the Atari 1024STFM
with ST- and Omikron-Basic.
Later on the PC I used:
Power Basic|Quick Basic
Turbo Pascal|Assemble r
Borland C/C++

Today I usually use Python and C (gcc,mingw).

Ciao,
Dominic

[Reid Nichol]

Re: age of Python programmers

> from which we conclude that "check the definition" means "check the[color=blue]
> 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.)
>[/color]

I have my opinion, you have yours. Why get your pantyhose in a bunch.
I made mention of my reasoning that you didn't touch on, you just got
agressive straight away... why am I replying?

[Reid Nichol]

Re: age of Python programmers

Peter Hansen wrote:
[color=blue]
> or mistake... if they did, Americans would properly use "fewer"
> in all those cases where they now use "less" incorrectly.
>
> -Peter[/color]

I lived in the US for a chunk of time (Berkeley). Let's not get into
how the Americans have butchered the english language.

[Reid Nichol]

Re: age of Python programmers

@Ian J Cottee:

Perhaps you should read some of my earlier posts.

[Reid Nichol]

Re: age of Python programmers

Peter Otten wrote:[color=blue]
> Reid Nichol wrote:
>
>[color=green][color=darkred]
>>>and then a quantum leap towards Python.[/color]
>>
>>You're aware that a quantum leap means a extremely small leap, right?[/color]
>
>
> (from a random walk through the internet)
>
> size [m] jumps [m] ratio
> man 2 8 4(*)
> grasshopper 2e-2 4e-1(*) 20
> electron 2*3e-15 5e-11 (Bohr radius) 8000(*)
>
> (*) my calculation
>
> That's one small step for electricity, one giant leap for an electron...
> Based on the above evidence a 10m Python should jump 80 kilometers (50
> miles), so beware...
>
> Peter
>
>[/color]

LOL!

[Alan Gauld]

Re: age of Python programmers

> Lucas Raab wrote:[color=blue][color=green]
> > 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....[/color][/color]

OK, I'll play...

I'm 46, started programming in 74 in BASIC (dunno what machine,
it was located at the local university and we downloaded the
programs from a teletype over a modem(120 baud) and got back
printouts 3 days later...)

Next I encountered the Sinclair ZX81 in 1981 (Timex in the USA)
where I wrote my first stock control application for a friend's
business!

In 1982 I started entering patches to a Marconi Telex switch in
Coral via a BBC Micro running a terminal emulator. I only
realised that later, I actually thought I was programming
the BBC at the time!! :-)

Then in 1984 I got formal training in Pascal, Assembler, C, Lisp
and Smalltalk. I've been a software engineer ever since and came
across Python in 1997 when a colleague pointed me at it after I
complained about the Perl syntax I was using to write a CGI
script.

I now use Python mainly for prototyping design ideas and
exploring the interfaces of our networked server applications
before writing specs for our offshore programmers to write in C++
or Java.

Alan G.
Author of the Learn to Program website

http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld

[Roy Smith]

Re: age of Python programmers

Alan Gauld <alan.gauld@bti nternet.com> wrote:[color=blue]
> I'm 46, started programming in 74 in BASIC (dunno what machine,
> it was located at the local university and we downloaded the
> programs from a teletype over a modem(120 baud) and got back
> printouts 3 days later...)[/color]

Basic in 1974 sounds just like where I got started. We had a teletype
too (the modem was 110 baud, BTW, not 120), but we were connected to
another regional high school's time sharing system (an HP-3000, IIRC),
so we got our stuff immediately. Oh, oh, oh, oh, stayin' on-line,
stayin' on-line!

Since then, I've done Fortran, lisp, a few different flavors of
assembler, C, C++, Java, HyperCard/SuperCard, TCL, Perl, Postscript
(yes, it's a real programming language) and of course Python. Oh, and
NewtonTalk. How could I forget NewtonTalk :-) And a few different HP
calculator languages.

[Steven Rumbalski]

Re: age of Python programmers

Lucas Raab wrote:
[color=blue]
> One thing I've always kind of wondered is what is the average age of a
> Python programmer??[/color]

I may as well get in on the game. I'm 31 and started programming when I was
26 in c++. I was intrigued by python, but was wooed by the marketability
of java and learned it in 2000. I finally learned python in 2001 and have
never looked back.

Programming is a hobby for me--I wish it were more than that. I am a
customer service rep in real life.

Steven Rumbalski

[Gerrit Muller]

Re: age of Python programmers

Gerrit Muller wrote:[color=blue]
>P.S.,[color=green]
>>
>> a lot of people added other intersting datapoints: when they started
>> programming and other languages used. I started around the age of 14,
>> with HP table top machines (polish notation). Programming languages:
>> Assemblers, Fortran, *Basic, *Pascal, C, Objective-C, C++. The most
>> positive experiences were Sinclair QL-basic, Turbo Pascal, Objective-C
>> and then a quantum leap towards Python.
>>[/color][/color]

I forgot to mention Java, this must be Freudian mistake

Gerrit


--
Gaudi systems architecting:
<http://www.extra.resea rch.philips.com/natlab/sysarch/>

[Oliver Fromme]

Re: age of Python programmers

Peter Hansen <peter@engcorp. com> wrote:[color=blue]
> Bryan wrote:[color=green]
> > i'm 37... started programing on a TRS-80 Model I and III. i also did a
> > bit a programming on a VIC-20... brownie points for anyone who can
> > remember how many text characters there was in one row...[/color]
>
> 23! ... freakin' weird little machine that was... :-)[/color]

It was 22 characters per row, and 23 rows on the screen.
The little thing didn't even have a graphics mode, though
you could fake it by modifying the pixel definition of the
character set.

I used to have a VIC-20 with a 40 Kbyte (not Mbyte) memory
extension. Those 40 Kbyte costed 200 DEM at that time;
roughly 100 $US. I don't dare to calculate the price
factor relative to today's RAM modules ...

Of course, I used the built-in BASIC, and very soon also
used 6502 machine code. Yes, machine code, no assembly
language, not even a hex monitor. I wrote the instructions
on paper, then looked up the opcodes in a 6502 CPU table,
then converted the hex/binary numbers back to decimal and
entered them into BASIC "data" statements. If the CPU
hung when running it, reboot (which took only 2 seconds)
and re-check the paper work ... Oh joy.

I could go on writing memories for hours, but I'll stop
here because it's completely off-topic already. :-)

Now, 20 years later, Python is my language of choice.
If it just supported strong typing, it would be perfect.

Best regards
Oliver

--
Oliver Fromme, Konrad-Celtis-Str. 72, 81369 Munich, Germany

``All that we see or seem is just a dream within a dream.''
(E. A. Poe)

[Clark C. Evans]

Re: age of Python programmers

Just about average I guess.... 35 very soon

On Thu, Aug 19, 2004 at 10:35:53PM +0000, Roel Schroeven wrote:
| number of datapoints: 94
| mean: 35.4
| standard deviation: 12.6

[Denis S. Otkidach]

Re: age of Python programmers

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 22:35:53 GMT
Roel Schroeven <rschroev_nospa m_ml@fastmail.f m> wrote:
[color=blue]
> Roel Schroeven wrote:
>[color=green]
> > I spotted some errors in your list, added new entries, and made a
> > histogram: http://roelschroeven.net/pythonages/[/color][/color]

I'm 29

--
Denis S. Otkidach
http://www.python.ru/ [ru]

[Roel Schroeven]

Re: age of Python programmers

Denis S. Otkidach wrote:
[color=blue]
> On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 22:35:53 GMT
> Roel Schroeven <rschroev_nospa m_ml@fastmail.f m> wrote:
>
>[color=green]
>>Roel Schroeven wrote:
>>
>>[color=darkred]
>>>I spotted some errors in your list, added new entries, and made a
>>>histogram: http://roelschroeven.net/pythonages/[/color][/color]
>
>
> I'm 29
>[/color]

Update results still at http://roelschroeven.net/pythonages/

--
"Codito ergo sum"
Roel Schroeven