Re: From Lua to Python?

[Russell Haley <russ.haley@...>]

On Sun, Jul 2, 2017 at 2:44 AM, Dibyendu Majumdar
<mobile@majumdar.org.uk> wrote:
> Hi Marc,
>
> On 2 July 2017 at 09:12, Marc Balmer <marc@msys.ch> wrote:
>> In my opinion you are making a huge mistake:  namely choosing your tools by popularity/user count rather by fitness for the task.
>>
>> If that was a wise thing to do, we would probably all code in visual basic for applications… ;)
>>
>
> It is not a question of Python being a more popular language than Lua
> - I knew that when I decided to use Lua some time back. I documented
> my reasons then:
>
> http://marc.info/?l=lua-l&m=142688565919209&w=2
>
> The issue is that since then Python has gained a solid footing in the
> sector I am targeting - so much so that at my previous work place the
> team were moving from R to Python for the work they did. Just as if
> you were to target a game it would make sense to use Lua as the
> scripting language - similarly Python is looking like the better
> choice in certain domains. I had hoped to counter this by creating all
> the "features" my users would need in Lua - but it has turned out this
> that this is a very major undertaking in its own right, and not what I
> can afford to spend time on. I am not talking here of generic
> libraries ... more like these:
>
> https://github.com/rasbt/pattern_classification/blob/master/resources/python_data_libraries.md
>
> I also mentioned the official support for Python in GRPC, Protocol Buffers.
> And finally the growing support for machine learning via PyTorch,
> Tensorflow etc.
>
> Sure all these can be done for Lua as well - and naively I had hoped I
> could tackle that. But I can't.

While I am not attempting to dissuade you from switching from Lua, I
assume you have posted this to gather opinion on the mailing list so I
shall add mine:
- If a technical choice does not lead to a clear competitive
advantage, I would argue it is not a wise choice. That competitive
advantage may be performance, ease of use, existing libraries or large
user base and integration with existing products. However, said
competitive advantage will always carry a price. The price of Lua
performance is a need to maintain your own tools and libraries. The
price of python is that every person not writing in Java or C# is
probably using Python. That's a good and a bad thing...
- The majority of programmers in the world are not very smart, usually
easily manipulated by shiny new toys and are resistant to learn new
things. I believe this resistance is because they will stand to loose
some advantage in the transition unless it is suggested by them
(because they think they have an advantage).
- Never trust large technology companies - especially Google. The old
Microsoft game was to embrace a 'partner' and then create their own
version of the tools and integrate it into their existing products,
leaving said partner in the shadows. Googles game is a 'long game'.
They will give you the tools to integrate your data into their systems
and then suck any profitability out of that market and leave you with
nothing. Don't believe me? Look at Android, Play Store, Google Maps,
and many other platforms. Once you are sending data to their 'free'
systems, you will no longer be able to extract yourself and you will
suffer the same fate as the millions of other developers that accepted
the shiny new toys they offered. I bet companies like Sony and HTC -
and even Samsung to an extent - thought they were being pretty smart
embracing Android. However, once the market has moved fully to the
<company name here> corner, you may no longer have a choice!

As someone who also thought of himself as an 'Army of One' I can see
that without massive amounts of time and resources (i.e. a financial
backer), there is little hope to compete even in a small slice of a
market. I believe the GPL license is largely responsible for this, as
large companies can always pour more resources into a technology than
you have available. Then, they simply suck up your GPL'd IP and turn
it to their advantage. I disdain the GPL and all who toute it for this
reason.

Okay, my daughter wants to play so I have to cut my rant short.

Good Luck, and stay away from Google. ;)

Russ