The "What Sucks" Index - PHP comes out well, with Python coming in second. VB sucks big-time, C++ sucks bigger-time, and Perl and Java suck a bit.

All very scientific, I'm sure. ;-)

Via c.l.py.

Taliban Reunited is the simple way to find out what your old terrorist chums and captives are doing now.

Miles Nordin is obviously having a really bad time with Java - he's totally pissed off with it, by the sound of it. Still, Java, Language of Tomorrow debunks a lot of hype.

I can't say that I love Java - it's not Python. But we rub along together well enough.

Via Babu.

Vattekkat's 'buzzword compliance' point is certainly a good one. Better than just asking about the technologies, interviewers should ask about techniques - "What does "Model-View-Controller' mean to you?", "What are tag libraries good for - how can they improve the quality, and particularly maintainability, of your code". That sort of thing.

The End of Inheritance: Automatic Run-time Interface Building for Aggregated Objects is a fascinating new recipe on the Python Cookbook.

Knowing both Python and Java has made me think about the relationship between types, interfaces, inheritance and classes a lot more than knowing just one would have done, I think. It certainly seems to me that the central concept is the interface - what roles can the object take. This is quite a separate thing from inheritance - that's about behavior, what an object actually is.

A good example here is the Python concept of a 'file'. Any object which follows the file 'protocol' (or the required subset of that protocol which is actually used) can be used anywhere that a real file object can. You could do this in Java quite easily, by implementing 'file' using an interface, but people usually seem to use inheritance instead.

This recipe allows you to build a class composed of other objects (with a 'has-a' relationship), but to automatically implement the behaviors of the contained objects.

You can do something similar with Java's Dynamic Proxy Class API, as as Java 1.3.

Via the Python Daily URL.

Seven tricks that Web users don't know

An excelent set of tips for developing web sites for non-technical people. It's important for techies to bear this sort of thing in mind.

Via from the orient.

8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter

Via FARK.

Bush launches "Operation Shut Your Piehole" Against European Leaders

Via FARK.

They are threatening to make me use learn and use VB at work! Arrrrrgh! Arrrrrgh!