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written by brad fults
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Does anyone else find it strangely unsettling that Guido van Rossum’s blog runs on Java? Presumably, at least: the URL has .jsp in it.
http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=212259
It’s not the end of the world or anything, but I think eyebrows go up when the CEO of Ford drives a Toyota or the BDFL of Python publishes his blog on a framework written in Java.
Archived at: http://h3h.net/2007/08/guidos-blog-runs-on-java/
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So what? That blog looks like it is part of his employers platform; do you expect him to either change the whole beast that runs the site or add some sub-site that runs on Python just because he is Mr. Python? Why do you care at all?
Both questions are answered above. It’s just…strange for the leader of a brand/product/language/movement to make use of his competition for one of his most public outlets.
So what? By those rules, Python couldn’t be implemented in Java, and couldn’t use Perl for its documentation tool chain; Perl 6 couldn’t be implemented in Haskell. Languages and open source projects augment each other, they don’t have to compete. Besides, Artima uses Python too (for the re-structured text formatting option that I use so I don’t have to type HTML). You seem to ascribe more ego to me than I have.
Indeed, there will always be (and should be) cross-pollination and augmentation among languages. Like I said, this observation was just in the realm of “strangely unsettling”, not “horrifically disastrous” or even “worth worrying about”.
I equated it to something like Matt Mullenweg, creator of WordPress, publishing his blog with MovableType, WordPress’s chief competition.
Maybe that’s not a good analogy and maybe normal people are too caught up in brand loyalty and public appearance (ironic because I’ve argued exactly that point in the past).
Anyway, I expected my “hah, weird” observation to be countered with something talking about productivity and the lack of necessity for a blog engine written in Python. Apologies for the apparent implications of accusation or offense; they were unintentional.
I could not disagree more:
a) the 1st/3rd question is not really answered - after all you cared enough to write this post :] And would you cry fault (yep, this is an exaggeration) when the whatever of Mattle buys LEGOs for his kids?
b) Python is just a language, not a framework (unlike the jsp stuff) so the hosting of his blog is not a direct competitor; Which makes me wonder: are there any blog hosters that run on Django?
What’s interesting, though, is the whole domain and his rather hidden relationship with it…