[tags]php, python, symfony, frameworks, programming[/tags]
The problem I have with python, is I really like what I can do with it, and it makes me hate that I have to use PHP.
PHP works. I’ve used it for over 10 years without problem. My web development methodology was this: I want to do x, but I need to first learn y. Well one day y became PHP/FI and then PHP 3 and then PHP 4 and then PHP5. It was a natural progression.
I came from a (what was at the time) traditional C/C++/Java background and decided that PHP while amateurish was still a better solution for web development. A few years later I was proven right by companies like Yahoo! and Facebook.
I did have my issues, and I worked through them, symfony and other frameworks like it, have made PHP development so much better, but eventually you get let in on little secrets. Secrets like other scripting languages.
In the last year I dabbled with ruby, but decided I didn’t want to look at rails. A few people pointed me in the direction of python and Django as an alternative to PHP alternatives. So I’ve spent time learning python.
Yesterday and today I gave myself a real project. I started hacking away at del.icio.us for a Winter Hack Day at Yahoo! I would write a few lines of code, and then realize that I can write it a little better a little cleaner using some neat little python constructs. It’s enjoyable in the way that PHP is not.
It might just be a phase, but I sincerely doubt it. A lot of people I know who use python love it. Many have been using it for years (even while I secretly thought, “python? really?” Well, I’m starting to think they’ve been onto something. We’ll see where I end up.