I think the deal with encapsulation is that some people are really insistent on their getters and setters (perhaps this has something to do with Java?). I find it much cleaner to just use properties and a naming scheme (“_” = protected, visible to subclasses, “__” = private, hidden). I know you can easily bypass a naming scheme but that’s not the point. It’s about communicating the interface.

It’s possible to get rid of some “warts” by writing a little precompiler, by doing some bytecode hacking (search or “selfless python” for instance) or just by metaprogramming. There are also interesting projects like EasyExtend to make certain modifications easier.

The httplib time out thing *has* caught me – but like only as far as “oh this needs a timeout. How do I do it?” I think you just need to set a timeout on socket before you start – no big deal.

What have you got against “join” – such a useful function for a task I seem to do all the time.

What intrigued me is what you mean by “ultra-dynamic” languages – can you name one or two to give me an example. (or write the blog post implied by “(but that is a different story…)” :-)

I have been using openSUSE for a few years now as my desktop and for my servers at home and work. My servers work only in text mode. I have found openSUSE to be very capable in text mode with all the usual command-line awesomeness you would expect in a *nix.

Additionally, openSUSE’s YaST administration tool works equally well under both GUI and text mode. Meaning you get nice menus and tabs and dropdowns, etc. to administer your system, rather than remembering a ton of esoteric command line switches and text file formats. Though you can use those too, if you like. :)

I don’t know of another distro that provides that kind of text mode administration system, and I have to say that having it does make openSUSE a breeze to administer in text mode (most of the time!) :)

Anyway, hope this helps. :) Good luck!