• namingthingsiseasy@programming.dev
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    19 days ago

    What is so bad about virtual environments? I found them to be really nice and useful when I developed in Python over about 5-ish years. It was really nice being able to have separate clean environments for installing libraries and executing things.

    Granted, I only used Python as a solo developer, so if there are shortcomings that emerge when working with other developers, then I would not be aware of them…

    Edit: also, performance is a bit more of a subtle topic. For numerical logic, Python actually is (probably) much better than a lot of its competitors thanks to numpy and numexpr. For conditional logic, I would agree that it’s not the best, but when you consider developer velocity, it’s a clearly worthwhile tradeoff since frameworks like Django are so popular.

    • vithigar@lemmy.ca
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      19 days ago

      What is so bad about virtual environments?

      They’re a solution to a self-inflicted problem. They’re only “really nice and useful” if you accept that having your projects stomp all over each others’ libraries and environments is normal.

      If projects were self-contained from the outset then you wouldn’t need an additional tool to make them so.

    • Gamma@beehaw.org
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      19 days ago

      If I need to keep my Python environment separate I’d rather spin up a docker container. They make virtual environments pointless

      • rothaine@beehaw.org
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        19 days ago

        But then you need to connect your IDE to the docker container. Doable, but often a PITA IME

        • Gamma@beehaw.org
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          19 days ago

          A single extension and 1-2 clicks isn’t that much to me 🤷 I’ve been doing it painfree for a few years now

          • rothaine@beehaw.org
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            19 days ago

            Maybe it’s gotten better in recent times…it was always disconnecting and needing to be restarted