Getting Physical

Python connects to the real world, too, not just its simulations. In software all around the globe, Python is running chemical tests, controlling factory operations, translating radio signals, reading GPS data, monitoring cargo movements, and much more.

I make a point of these examples because the one population I encounter which seems most skeptical of Python's potential is the scientific-engineering community. Python is actually a great language for such applications, that is, for allowing the domain experts to focus on their own subjects, rather than having to attend to computing arcana. It's not yet part of engineering culture, though, to look to Python, despite the COM and performance advantages mentioned above, as well as the pyserial package for interfacing with standard serial ports, or the SciPy collection of Python-based scientific tools and associated annual conference.

I expect they will eventually. While I'll lose then the competitive advantage scripting has give our company for many years, they'll find the software they create far more satisfying: quicker to finish, less error-prone, and easier to enhance. I can live with that trade-off.

Tieing Up Loose Ends

Python isn't just for Web pages, or Unix specialists, as you might have heard. You're already a successful Windows-oriented programmer and/or system administrator, and you deserve a language that expands your possibilities, not restricts them. With Python in your toolbox, you can achieve many of the same results you already have, but more quickly and with less effort. Brighten your world with colors and patterns you haven't tried before.

Cameron Laird is vice president of the Phaseit, Inc., consultancy. He received the 2004 Frank Willison Memorial Award for his work in communicating Python-related stories.

Read more about scripting languages! Start with The State of the Scripting Universe. Then, explore each language in more detail, by learning Five Things You Didn't Know You Could Do...

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