[ZenoArrow]

> "Because more or less everything is Turing-complete."

If you understand what it means, then you'd know that it means that all programming languages are comparable, from assembly to Haskell, in the sense they can all be used to do the same job. Therefore, requesting a comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of two programming languages is not a foolish request. The point of such a request is to find out where it makes sense to use a particular language. To give another example, let's say someone asks if it's a good idea to write a web server in assembly or in Go. It's certainly possible in either, but in order to explore what the best choice is then further discussion is required. Comparing a Dremel to a plasma cutter is an attempt to shut down this discussion, which doesn't help in furthering the knowledge of the participants.

[pvg]

If you understand what it means, then you'd know that it means that all programming languages are comparable

I think this is where we strongly diverge and I resent, a bit, your implication that because I don't buy into this I somehow 'don't understand what it means'. I understand what it means. I just think it's plainly ridiculous.

[ZenoArrow]

> "I just think it's plainly ridiculous."

You compared a Dremel to a plasma cutter as a way to explain the differences between Python and Rust, how is that any less ridiculous?

[pvg]

It’s an analogy and like most analogies it’s imperfect. My point was and remains that a really bad argument (“everything is Turing-complete!”) is not much of a critique of that or really any analogy. Because it’s so obviously shallow and bad.

[ZenoArrow]

> "My point was and remains that a really bad argument (“everything is Turing-complete!”) is not much of a critique of that or really any analogy. Because it’s so obviously shallow and bad."

You're getting hung up on a minor detail. My main point was not about Turing completeness. My main point was that requesting a comparison of programming languages is a legitimate request. Turing completeness is just one angle by which to see this. As you seem to object to that suggestion, there are plenty of other ways to explain it.

For example, one way to compare languages is to look at the key libraries and frameworks that have been built up around them. So for example, Rocket vs Django, Diesel vs SQLAlchemy, etc... If we're comparing languages, we should compare what the languages makes it easy for us to do, and libraries are a big part of that.

Another way to look at this suggestion is that "writing performant code" is something that's easier in some languages than others, and the libraries built using those languages are likely to reflect that. However, performance is just one metric by which to compare languages/libraries/frameworks, which is another reason why these comparisons can help in building an understanding in when a language is likely to be the best one for the job.

Lastly, to make this as clear as possible, I'm not advocating for Python or for Rust, I am only advocating for language comparison as a helpful approach when building familiarity with programming language strengths and weaknesses. Both Python and Rust have niches they excel in, but there's also a large amount of overlap. As an example, game frameworks exist for both Python and Rust, and discussion can help others find what's best for them.