What if I use Netbeans on Linux? Is that better than vim or emacs? Does it count if I use Xcode? Or are claiming that Windows is the best programming platform? Or are you drunk? Or are you not really a programmer? What about patching the kernel? Why would you need to patch *any* kernel if you so obviously think that a "modern Wndows IDE" is better than good old vim and emacs?

You are very confused sir. You also communicate as newbies often do: generalization, lots of unrelated subjects, etc, etc. After all, I have used lots of different IDEs and I keep coming back to my faithful vim because, guess what, it does what I need and more. For the things it doesn't do, well, that's why you need lots of the GNU tools out there, right? How do you awk on your beloved Windows IDEs? How do you grep? How do you head or tail or even cron your way on your Windows IDEs?

Again, why was it you had to patch your Linux kernel?

Again. A legal document. There's no such thing as a moral thing to do when you are talking about a LEGAL DOCUMENT.

Let me rephrase:

You can defend the spirit of OPEN SOURCE as a whole. What it should be. What the GPL, BSD, APACHE, CC and other licenses lack and what they contribute to the community. Their style and pace. The legal implications. Furthermore, you can argue all you want about the moral implications of those documents and the possibility of a lawsuit the original author may present before a Court for infringement of the GPLv2 license that he used to publish *his* Xpilot software.

The reality is that these guys have not breached the GPL in any way. That they are profiting from a port which meets all the requirements the GPL imposes. That the original work was currently not in use by the original author. That the original author legally waived *those* rights over the software when he first published it with a GPL license.

I sense that your arbitrary position is that it doesn't matter whether it's free as in beer or not. What matters is that GPL'd software should not be ported to the iPhone because you can not install or run modified versions of the software on it.... now you've got a whole new vector of problems that the poor guys hadn't thought of before... and let me tell you, these kinds of discussions led the GPL community to be torn apart by a flawed rewrite such as the GPLv3. The general rule is that in case of confusion, one should stick to the old GPLv2. Now we're f-ur c-ked. Meanwhile, Apple and Microsoft keep coming back with their glorified license schemes and the community has to adhere by them because we can't simply get along between us.

Talk about spirit...

There is no "spirit of GPL". There's the GPL. A legal document, more precisely, a license, that allows the distribution of software and its source code given specific guidelines. On the other hand, there is a "spirit of cultural adaptation" (for lack of a cleverer parody) that guarantees that culture will adapt *anything* that's not forgotten to the current world state. And adapting the GPL to fit Apple's demands is the current course of events.

You, my friend, can either adapt or become a dinosaur. A dinosaur with morals. But a dinosaur nonetheless.

So you're saying C is better than python just because you're better at C?

I have no problem finding what a function does in python. I can go as far as telling you that it is easier contributing in large projects written in python than contributing in large projects written in C. I'm sure that almost everyone (excluding those impaired by Oppositional Defiant Disorder) will agree that scripting languages have had a huge impact on programming because code is easier to write, easier to maintain, etc. It has everything to do with readibility.

Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby ... the list goes on and on. Millions have benefited from using these and other languages and yet, you claim you find it harder using python than C? And your best defense on readability is claiming that type specification is of uttermost importance?

If you find it hard to understand code because you have to open a file and close it and open another and "damn this wasn't it, better close it and grep -R again", USE AN IDE. There are lots out there and they're reaaaally worth it. Some of them even take you the object's definition (file AND line no.) when you double-click on the name!

C++ has its uses. It would be downright stupid to try and use python for everything. But using C for everything is downright stupid too. My absolute worst nightmare is getting a Segmentation Fault when adding functionality to 15,000+ lines C code. I know, I've tried. And 15,000+ lines of code written a few years ago. Worst. And written by a bad programmer. Worst yet.

The assumptions here should be quite clear: A bored individual decided to tackle a problem he/she finds interesting. He used previously acquired knowledge only. His programming tool was python. The first try was good but sloppy. The second one ran blazingly fast (compared to the first one) and it was still below the 65-lines mark. Good enough, right? He didn't set out to write a paper on the best Knight's Tour algorithm. He didn't even set out to point out that python was better than any other language! He could tackle the problem in a few hours and present a working solution to a crowd that can read the code, understand it and use it and I think python excels in accomplishing that.

But I guess you're writing an OS and scripting doesn't suit you...