[GRASS-user] Python for scripting (was: problem with r.in.wms)

[Michael Barton]

On 7/4/07 4:36 AM, "Glynn Clements" <glynn at gclements.plus.com> wrote:

> 
> Ivan Shmakov wrote:
> 
>>         Are there reasons to favor Python for GRASS scripts over, say,
>>         Tcl, Scheme, Common Lisp, or Perl?
> 
> Scheme/Lisp won't be installed on many systems, and Tcl and Perl both
> have significant deficiencies as programming languages.

Here are some other points

I can attest that Python is relatively easy to learn. It is a very powerful,
full-featured, object-oriented programming language. It is both easier to
program and much richer than BASH shell scripts.

It seems to be regularly updated and available on all common platforms with
current (2.5) or near current (2.4) versions.

It is pretty widely used in the sciences.

One of the leading GUI packages (wxWidgets) has been ported to Python
(wxPython)

GRASS with Python lets you do a LOT of things that can't easily be done (or
not done at all) with other GIS packages.

Michael
__________________________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
Director of Graduate Studies
School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Center for Social Dynamics & Complexity
Arizona State University

phone: 480-965-6213
fax: 480-965-7671
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton