Recently MIT announced that it would change the programming language used to teach freshmen engineers to program. The change was from Scheme (a language obscure to many outside MIT) to Python (a language enthusiastically used throughout the world, notably at Google). To most, this may seem a relatively minor curriculum change, the kind that happen all the time in universities, without fuss, and especially in the technology areas. Not so.
Why? After all, MIT has been using Scheme since 1985. That’s practically the stone age. The IBM PC was still the top personal computer in 1985 (8 MHz Intel 8088, remember)! Python is a relatively recent language, supported by a vibrant open source and commercial community and used in some of the most obvious places in the Internet. Most might wonder what took MIT so long.
The truth of MIT’s choice is that this represents a fundamental shift in the nature of the nerd art. And that shift is a true barometer of where we are headed in computer software, and in all the businesses connected to that software. Let me explain…
Scheme is a dialect of Lisp, the Latin of computer languages. It’s elegance, obscurity and simplicity hides pure unadulterated power of expression. Not many speakers of latin these days eh, same with Lisp. Mostly folks program in the descendants of Lisp. Python is rather more Esperanto. Simple, and powerful, it is oriented around giving the widest possible range of programmers, the most leverage, for the amount of time they spend programming. Python is pragmatic, effective and useful to a wide range of people trying to get stuff done with computers.
What does this say? I think it says, we are transitioning engineers from the task of creating technology to the task of using that technology to build amazing new inventions. We are asking our computers to now help us solve problems. Problems in electronics, cars, energy, robotics, automation, analytics, communication, medical and every other human endeavor you can think of. MIT is now saying, we don’t need people to make new ways of computing. We need people thinking up new and clever ways to apply computing. Bravo!
Just to be clear. I am mourning the passing of Scheme. The text MIT used is my most cherished book, along with several others that explore the deep elegant basics of computer programming. Though I like Python (and use it every day), I prefer the more elegant, refined and powerful Ruby. Ruby is, to me, closer to Lisp. I would love to work in Scheme. Ah, well. This too shall pass. MIT has made a wise choice. Our future lies with what we create with our computers, not the computers themselves. I’d say the classic glass palace has given way to the wild and woolly, sometimes daring, Gehry.
- Innovation: It’s About the Application Stupid
- Why Did M.I.T. Switch from Scheme to Python?
- Chiming in on the MIT Scheme to Python Switch
Tags: Abraham+Lincoln, Application+Centered+Design, Gehry, Lisp, Lisp+Programming+Language, MIT, Python, Python+Programming+Language, ruby, ruby+programming+language, Scheme, Scheme+Programming+Language