Me vs. ChatGPT: Tell me why I should use the Python programming language.
As a programmer, I use Python because it aligns with my vibe and allows me to express myself. It is easy to learn, free and open source, and has a large and supportive community. It is also a high-level language, dynamically-typed, and versatile, with a rich set of built-in data types and standard libraries. I'm confident that Python is the perfect language for me to use and grow with.
Why I Choose Python: My Journey to Find the Perfect Programming Language
By Michael Levin
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
category: python
Mike’s Response
Python is a way of thinking more than a programming language. But then, aren’t all languages? A language’s creator and purpose sets its tone more than is generally acknowledged. Biases toward certain techniques and practices thrust themselves upon you by mere use of the tool. This is not bad. It just is. When you take up a hammer you ought to know you’re gonna be banging a lot of nails.
The belief that languages are interchangeable (Turing-complete) has done a lot of damage to up coming tool-users, but they don’t know it like a fish unaware of water. They play down the “vibe” of the language and play up how many figures will be in their salary. But I ask why poison your soul by being forced to think, act and do things in ways that are antithetical to your existence? Would you rather liter the product of your self-expression with all kinds of extraneous curly cues or wools you rants have or clean and precise? Seek love-worthiness in your tools and you will never be poor.
You must align your vibe to the vibe of the tool you take up, least you be forsaken. So why Python? List of merits, blah, blah, blah. You can read them anywhere. What I’m telling you is what you seek in the experience transcends language. You must try Python. Try it in JupyterLab. Install the Linux version of JuputerLab on your Windows machine using Levinux. If this aligns to your vibe, you will be on a new path. Aligning with the programming language you use is a beautiful thing and sews the seeds of achieving ikigai in your life. I align with Python.
Listed on this page are my favorite tricks that make me most happy in Python. I could be out hunting animals or crafting wood, but I prefer to live at a desk and on my head manipulating tables. This is not because it earns me the bucks, but is because I enjoy it. You’ve got to spent your time doing something that stimulates you and earns a living, so why not jockeying data around?
Some people want to do WebDev. Some people thing doing development for the Web is all there is. I do not. I find the vibe and modern popular tools surrounding web dev reprehensible. They are not my vibe at all. Something called htmx may be changing that and I hope to cover it here if I get back into webdev. But the work I do is much more like the data acquisition and preparation work that goes into what people are calling Data Science. This complimentary field is sometimes called Data Engineering, and that’s more or less what I do.
Often the works is matrices multiplication similar to what you would do in SQL or Excel, but it’s not always rows and columns. Sometimes I’m manipulating the hierarchical linked lists of node graphs. Sometimes the data is JSON or CSVs, but it’s almost always hard to acquire and every job is custom and will require creative thinking. More and more I’m automating the use of web browsers in order to simulate what a human could do to collect data without using a formal API.
So that’s how I use Python. There’s like a zillion other ways people do and you might. Like I said, it’s a way of thinking that suits me. I like how Guido can Rossum, Python’s creator, thinks. He follows a set of rules that favor the most common use-cases and the least nonsense. Rare use-cases are generally supported, but that’s where you have to work for it. Everything else just comes naturally and flows, like driving a car or narrating your thoughts.
I look for in a tool or a language to broaden my baseline capabilities by going into muscle memory as I practice, and then to be like I’m not even thinking about or using the tool. It becomes transparent. It is at this point, internalized. You might not think so, but tools do become internalized into your body, mind and soul. Best they be love-worthy, and better still they be Free and Open Source so you can carry them with you forever. That’s what Python does for me. And if this resonates then maybe it’s why you ought to give Python a try.
ChatGPT: Tell me why I should use the Python programming language.
Version 1
Python is a versatile and popular programming language that is widely used in a range of fields, including web development, data science, scientific computing, and more. It is known for its simplicity and readability, making it an excellent language for beginners to learn. Additionally, Python has a large and active community, meaning that there is a wealth of support and resources available for users, as well as a vast selection of libraries and frameworks that can be used to extend its capabilities. Overall, Python is a powerful and flexible language that can be used for a wide variety of purposes.
Version 2
Python is a widely-used programming language that is known for its simplicity, readability, and flexibility. It is a powerful language that can be used for a wide range of purposes, including web development, data analysis, machine learning, and more. Some of the key reasons to use Python include:
- It is easy to learn, even for people with no previous programming experience.
- It has a large and supportive community, with many third-party libraries and frameworks that can be easily integrated into your projects.
- It is a high-level language, which means that it abstracts away many of the low-level details of computer systems and allows you to focus on solving the problem at hand.
- It is a dynamically-typed language, which means that you don’t need to specify the data type of a variable when you declare it, and the interpreter will automatically determine the data type at runtime. This can make your code more concise and easier to write.
- It is a versatile language that can be used for a wide range of purposes, from web development to data analysis to machine learning.
- It has a rich set of built-in data types and standard libraries, which makes it easy to perform many common programming tasks without having to write a lot of code.
Overall, Python is a great choice for anyone who wants to learn to code because it is easy to learn and use, and it can be applied to a wide range of problems.
Version 3
There are many reasons why someone might want to use the Python programming language. Some of the top reasons include:
- Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language, which means that it can be used for a wide variety of tasks and is easy to read and write. This makes it a great language for beginners to learn, and it is also used extensively in scientific computing and data analysis.
- Python has a large and active community of users, which means that there is a wealth of online resources available, such as tutorials, documentation, and libraries, to help you get started and learn more about the language.
- Python has a large standard library, which means that you have access to a wide range of pre-built tools and modules that you can use to quickly and easily develop your applications.
- Python is a dynamically typed language, which means that you don’t need to specify the data type of a variable when you declare it. This makes it quick and easy to write code, and it also makes the language more flexible.
- Python is an interpreted language, which means that you can run your code immediately without having to compile it first. This makes it easy to quickly test and debug your code.
- Python is open source, which means that it is free to use and distribute. This makes it a great choice for anyone who wants to try out the language without having to spend any money.
- Python has a rich ecosystem of third-party packages and libraries, which means that you can easily extend the functionality of the language to meet the specific needs of your project.
Overall, Python is a powerful, versatile, and easy-to-use programming language that can be used for a wide range of tasks. It is a great choice for beginners who are just getting started with programming, as well as for experienced developers who want a language that is flexible, easy to work with, and has a large community of users.