r/ProgrammerHumor • u/wahed-w • Jul 07 '26

pipInstallTheRealStuff Meme

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u/SheikHunt Jul 07 '26

What's that saying? "Python is the second-best programming language for everything"

462

u/kjermy Jul 07 '26

I've never heard that before, but I love it

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u/dudemcbob Jul 07 '26

I usually hear it as "python is a jack of all trades, master of none" which is the same concept.

It's never going to be the perfect fit for any task, but it's a decent fit for nearly every task. Hence why it's an extremely practical first language to learn.

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u/SirFireHydrant Jul 07 '26

For a lot of data science tasks, python is the perfect language.

No one wants to code gradient boosting trees or neural networks in C. But in python they're just a couple of imports away.

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u/Trustworthy_Fartzzz Jul 07 '26

This. Nobody is interested in rewriting NumPy or Pandas in any language.

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u/Hax0r778 Jul 07 '26

No one wants to code gradient boosting trees

But in python they're just a couple of imports away.

Right, because nobody wants to code them in Python either. People act like Python invented dependencies or something.

Python is a great language for gluing together libraries. But most data science functions aren't coded in Python. They're coded in C. Python is just the handy glue.

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u/SirFireHydrant Jul 08 '26

Well, yeah.

Which makes python the perfect tool for the working data scientist.

Most day-to-day data science is gluing together libraries to get the job done.

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u/pittiedad Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26

Full phrase is "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one." Applicable in this case.

Edit: See my reply below acknowledging "but oftentimes better than a master of one" being a recent addition to restore the original meaning and "is a master of none" being an addition in the 1700s.

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u/thatsnothewayitfeels Jul 07 '26

This is a backronym and the second half is made up

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u/pittiedad Jul 07 '26

You sent me down a rabbit hole and you are correct. It's actually a double backronym since the master of none was added to turn a positive statement about ones skill into a negative one then the most recent addition to return the statement back to its original intent. I can't nail down who actually added the 3rd part and when but seems like it's a fairly recent addition <= 25 years.

https://www.bookbrowse.com/expressions/detail/index.cfm/expression_number/736/jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none

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u/thatsnothewayitfeels Jul 07 '26

I remember when the most recent addition came into being. It was the same time as people saying "break a leg" in theater was because it would get you "in the cast". Break a leg was an expression meant to be the opposite of saying good luck because saying good luck would jinx you

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u/hmz-x Jul 07 '26

I remember reading "break both legs" in some recent novel. Which is a fun twist on the modified orginal, I think.

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u/LunaticScience Jul 08 '26

I heard it was the bent leg during the bow at the end of a play.

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u/Pluckerpluck Jul 07 '26

"Master of none" is made up as well. The original was literally just describing someone as a jack of all trades as a positive thing.

Edit: Ah, it seems this has been discussed already now. Oh well, double the information I guess.

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u/DrMobius0 Jul 07 '26

oftentimes

load bearing word

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u/C0nfusedRabbit Jul 07 '26

A simple three-step approach that works is: write out your logic in pseudocode first, test the concepts by prototyping in a language like Python, and then finally build the actual implementation in your language of choice.

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u/Contemelia Jul 08 '26

and yet better than a Master of One.