Javascript is bundled in web browsers, which is a huge leg up for immediate deployed capability. There might have been massive pressures to evolve the language versus Python.
There's also the minutiae of Python being more exposed to the operating system. The browser is installed, but Javascript was effectively sandboxed. So there was less consideration for "binary incompatibilities" or "system-level details" for Javascript as with Python.
Think Python is in a nice place where the libraries and packages support the current trend (AI) but remains an approachable language. Tools like uv help smooth over package management, which seemed like a challenge before (venev, wheels, CPython).
Python could evolve on several fronts: developer ergonomics, performance, language research, and hardware (shaders). Unfortunately, it may have to balance backward-compatibility like Raku and Perl5: whether to try a clean break (2to3) or gradually consolidate stdlib (naming).
It may also be "good enough," and maybe there are more language users than there are language researchers.
> It may also be "good enough," and maybe there are more language users than there are language researchers.
I think you are right. Python steering council seems to consist people who are closer to users than capable language designers. I don't see anyone there who has published any research article or code that would suggest they're even aware of modern PL developments. This might simply be a result of Python being a volunteer based movement unlike say TS which attracted funding from industry giants like Microsoft? But i'd still think Python could attract talent despite this. The fact that Guido stuck around til 2018 didn't help things either.
It's funny because 3 dropped in 2008, the same year Slava was demonstrating Factor in google tech talks which was a contemporary language to python3 that completely blew Python out of the water.
Javascript is bundled in web browsers, which is a huge leg up for immediate deployed capability. There might have been massive pressures to evolve the language versus Python.
There's also the minutiae of Python being more exposed to the operating system. The browser is installed, but Javascript was effectively sandboxed. So there was less consideration for "binary incompatibilities" or "system-level details" for Javascript as with Python.
Think Python is in a nice place where the libraries and packages support the current trend (AI) but remains an approachable language. Tools like uv help smooth over package management, which seemed like a challenge before (venev, wheels, CPython).
Python could evolve on several fronts: developer ergonomics, performance, language research, and hardware (shaders). Unfortunately, it may have to balance backward-compatibility like Raku and Perl5: whether to try a clean break (2to3) or gradually consolidate stdlib (naming).
It may also be "good enough," and maybe there are more language users than there are language researchers.
> It may also be "good enough," and maybe there are more language users than there are language researchers.
I think you are right. Python steering council seems to consist people who are closer to users than capable language designers. I don't see anyone there who has published any research article or code that would suggest they're even aware of modern PL developments. This might simply be a result of Python being a volunteer based movement unlike say TS which attracted funding from industry giants like Microsoft? But i'd still think Python could attract talent despite this. The fact that Guido stuck around til 2018 didn't help things either.
that whole v2-v3 transition python went through gave us the vibrant bloom of dialects we enjoy today; is that not evolution?
It's funny because 3 dropped in 2008, the same year Slava was demonstrating Factor in google tech talks which was a contemporary language to python3 that completely blew Python out of the water.
https://youtu.be/f_0QlhYlS8g?t=118