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Chicago. 1996. The LISA conference. O'Reilly was hosting a release party
and author signing for their second edition of the camel book. Larry,
Tom and Randal where there signing stuff, and I was on line with a few
friends. One of them asked me if I had ever used Python. Apparently some of
the programmers he worked with really liked it. Not only had I not used it,
I didn't know a damn thing about it. I think "Why would I need some weird new
programming language I'd never heard of when I've got perl"?
In my time as a sysadmin, I used a lot of perl. Perl gave me power, but not
without a cost. I remember beating my head against the wall more than a
few times while struggling to get some non-trival data structures working.
For some reason, I didn't like programming very much.
Fast forward a few years and I've switched jobs and I'm working with a
fellow who's my age, but years ahead of me in all things technical.
He's working on his first Python program. It's a 20K lines of code DNS
management application using Tkinter, and another few thousand lines of
the corresponding server code. It is a thing of beauty and people love
it. I learn a lot from him and his programs. He's the go-to guy for
Python questions (and everything else) because he always has the answer
and he's never a jerk about it. Then he goes and retires about 30 years
early.
Fast forward again, and I'm still in the same place, but now I'm a
programmer. One day I'm asked to take over maintainace of my co-worker's
DNS management application. It needs kerberos support added, and has to
get ported to MacOS X. It'll be hard, but I can do it. It takes me longer
than I'd like to get it done, but the damn thing works. I've learned so
much in the process, and everyday people are using my code so they can
do their jobs. I feel acomplished.
Present day now. I'm reflecting on why Python works for me. Python doesn't
get in my way like perl did. Python gives me the time to explore new
solutions to problems. Python makes me productive (and I need all the help
I can get). Python lets me enjoy programming.
More of my co-workers are using Python these days, and now I seem to be
the go-to guy for Python questions. Sometimes I even have the answers.
I love that.
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