Hi Matt, First of all, welcome. Drop along to meet-ups, it's a great way to chat to others on their own experiences.
Good luck, /// Vicky ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~ http://irishbornchinese.com ~~ ~~ http://www.python.ie ~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 1:21 PM, M to the B <[email protected]>wrote: > Thanks Sean. > > I've been thinking about that for a while after I started this thread > yesterday. It's true that I find significant whitespace weird. In a > way, it does remind me of an unhappy experience writing Pascal and > Delphi many moons ago. Likewise, the lack of semi-colons goes against > the flow for me - to this day, I terminate lines of shell script with > gratuitous semi-colons. > > But I think the biggest roadblock for me is the duality between Python > as a language that is used to write machine-readable code on the one > hand, and on the other Python as a cause to be advocated for.I think > the former is a bit weird but not unmanageably so. The latter is where > the irrational element creeps in. There's a lot of people blogging > about Python and related topics out there. I understand now that it > reminds me of my early experience with Linux. I started using it in 98 > (Red Hat 5.2!) and I saw it as a very fun thing to play with. But some > time thereafter, I started reading Slashdot comments and that's when > the conflicting opinions, the competitive snobbery and the trolling > sucked the joy out of it for me. I'm not saying that Python folks are > like that, but seeing Python as something many people are very > opinionated about puts me off. > > So I've a lead for my own problem there: I should try reading more > code and fewer comments. > > Thank you. > > - Matt > > On Aug 22, 11:03 pm, Sean O'Donnell <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Matt, and welcome > > > > Im not sure if this is what you are looking for, but I ran from python > > screaming the first few times I tried it. Significant white-space, it > > really annoyed me for a very long time. I think it probably came from > > nightmarish experiences with a cobol system I had to work on in college, > > it had all sorts of weird rules about what had to start in what column. > > > > Python kept cropping up over time as providing nice solutions for > > problems I needed to solve, and eventually I overcame the block and > > spent enough time with it to become comfortable. > > > > I would be curious to hear a little more about the specifics of the > > nature of the block. In any case, good luck overcoming the block. (By > > the way, I have used Perl in the past, but not Fortran, but if I came > > across a problem that it seemed well suited to I would take it for a > > spin. I don't consider myself just a Python programmer, only primarily a > > python programmer, always choose the right tool for the job, and no one > > language is always the right tool). > > > > All the best > > > > Sean > > > > On Sun, 2010-08-22 at 09:28 -0700, M to the B wrote: > > > > > Hello, > > > > > My name is Matt and I've just joined this group. My reason for joining > > > is that I've a question I'd like to ask Python users and I'm based in > > > Ireland, so this seems like a reasonable place. I'd like to give a > > > quick bit of context first, before getting to said question. > > > > > I've been tinkering with computers since I was a kid, and over the > > > years I've used a fairly wide selection of languages, from assembly to > > > ML, in different capacities and at different levels of proficiency. > > > Lately, I've mostly been using Perl at work and while I like Perl for > > > letting me do what I want and putting bread on the table, I'm very > > > much aware of its drawbacks. It's also getting a bit long in the > > > tooth. > > > As it happens, one of my colleagues -who is probably on this group- is > > > a Python advocate and has convinced me that Python is the language I > > > should take up. I've been given useful pointers, I bought a book > > > but... I still haven't learned a thing about Python because of a > > > stupid mental block when it comes to the language and its users. I > > > understand and appreciate that it is wholly irrational and ridiculous > > > to be afraid of a programming language and therefore I want to ask: > > > > > Has anyone around here overcome similar prejudice before becoming a > > > Python user? Or maybe in relation to some other language? If so, I'd > > > like to hear about your experience. > > > > > I wish to assure you I'm not trolling. In my experience, it's not > > > uncommon for programmers and hackers of various stripes to hold > > > preconceptions in favour of or against a given language/technology and/ > > > or its users (would you take up Perl for instance? or FORTRAN?). I'm > > > hoping that by asking a large enough set of people, I'll come across > > > folks who have managed to expand their horizons in spite of such > > > prejudice. > > > > > Thank you, > > > > > - Matt > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Python Ireland" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<pythonireland%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/pythonireland?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Python Ireland" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/pythonireland?hl=en.
