Interesting article and discussion about Python's standard library

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad]

On Sunday, 19 May 2019 at 18:54:03 UTC, Francis Locke wrote:
> I don't know about Go, but I use D for "scripting," a lot. (Go 
> rdmd!)

Yes, I remember I was amazed that a compiled language could be 
used like that the first time it was introduced. :-)

I view D more as a language that originated with aspirations 
towards systems-programming then ended up with more emphasis 
towards application programming and bends the limits towards 
scripting (or prototyping).

Whereas I view Python primarily as a scripting language ("real 
time" patch-things-together coding) that has bent the limits 
towards application development.

> And a good general-purpose language, for me, is one that gives 
> a nice, stable stdlib that allows you to build your initial 
> solution without having to worry about dependencies. In fact, I 
> wish D's stdlib was bigger! Ms. Brown has ostensibly lost sight 
> of this.

Got ya. :-) I guess there are three contradicting views:

1. For a low level system programming language then you want a 
small runtime and small library that is easy to port and that 
makes it possible to reuse other libraries without too much bloat 
(so all third party libraries only depend on a limited standard 
library).

2. For scripting and high level programming you want the exact 
opposite. You want a large coherent standard library that 
provides a shared set of concepts and names for constructs that 
becomes a shared language between programmers (e.g. ranges in D 
stdlib).

3. For system level application development you want a standard 
library that complement the native operating system you target in 
a very clean and coherent fashion. And provides access to the 
specific features of the OS (like subscribing to file directory 
changes, GPS location and what not).