Hi Matt:
If you are into Admin-type stuff, I'd highly recommend this book
(disclaimer: I'm an O'Reilly author):
http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596515829/
I see you have mentioned you have a "problem" with this type of
book-learning, but after a short 20 page introduction to Python, you can
pick'n'choose admin topics to explore from a Python point-of-view from the
rest of the book (as each chapter is pretty much self-contained). There's
plenty of good stuff in there. Last time I looked, there was a copy in
Hoggis-Figgis.
I can also, as suggested by Vicky, highly recommend "Dive into Python", and
would encourage you to look at the Python 3 specific edition, which is
available for free here:
http://diveintopython3.org/
You can read it on-line and/or download it in full as PDF or HTML (you can
also buy a "dead-tree copy", too). Chapter 15 is especially useful as the
author tackles a large porting project and hits on many of the
nooks'n'crannies of the language.
Best of luck with whatever you do.
Regards.
Paul.
On 24 August 2010 17:57, Vicky Twomey-Lee <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi Matt,
>
> Joe mentioned http://diveintopython.org/ and it's a great starting point.
>
> You can find Python recipes at
> http://code.activestate.com/recipes/langs/python/,
> and also check out http://stackoverflow.com as well.
>
> All I can say is just get your hands dirty with a project you are working
> on, or some utility you want replacing.
>
> Have fun!
>
> /// Vicky
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ~~ http://irishbornchinese.com ~~
> ~~ http://www.python.ie ~~
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 5:41 PM, M to the B <[email protected]>wrote:
>
>> Hello everyone and thanks for your replies.
>>
>> I think that a better approach for me would be to just start picking
>> away at some Python code, as opposed to reading books/tutorials/blogs
>> since evidently I have a problem with those.
>>
>> What I'm looking for would be easily digestible chunks of real Python
>> code, preferably <=1000 LOC. I was thinking maybe admin scripts or
>> small data processing utilities, to cut my teeth on the syntax. Would
>> anyone know where I can find that?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> - Matt
>>
>> On Aug 23, 1:28 pm, Vicky Twomey-Lee <[email protected]> wrote:
>> > 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
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>> > > "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]>
>> <pythonireland%[email protected]<pythonireland%[email protected]>
>> >
>> > > .
>> > > For more options, visit this group at
>> > >http://groups.google.com/group/pythonireland?hl=en.
>>
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--
Paul Barry - http://glasnost.itcarlow.ie/~barryp
Lecturer, Computer Networking: Institute of Technology, Carlow, Ireland.
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/3677 and http://programming.itcarlow.ie
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