Re: Learning Python for a new beginner
Lisa Horton wrote: I hear that Python is one of the easiest languages to learn. It is easier than PHP or Pearl? Is it as useful as those two? I am attracted to Python as a first language, but I just want to be sure I will be able to use it. Opinions, thoughts, thanks! I haven't done much with Perl, but I did try to learn enough PHP a couple of years ago to do some web development. It wasn't too bad, but it seemed tough to get started for some reason. My experience with Python wasn't like that - it didn't seem to take very long at all to get comfortable with it and start using it for real projects at work (maybe 2-3 months of learning it in my spare time). I still use Python for >90% of my projects at work. In over 2 years, I haven't run into any situations where I had good reason to choose anything else. The stuff built into the language and the libraries that come as part of the standard Python distribution have made my life a lot easier than it ever was when I was only using C/C++. Of course, your mileage may vary, depending on what sort of programming you'd like to do. :) Hope this helps, Alan McIntyre http://www.esrgtech.com -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Learning Python for a new beginner
Hi Lisa, > I hear that Python is one of the easiest languages to learn. It is > easier than PHP or Pearl? Most people think so, though personal experiences can vary. I played around wit hPerl for some time but never got really far. Python, on the other hand, attracted me from the first minute. Don´t be fooled: Learning and mastering Python requires work and brains, but that is the price you have to pay anyways. It helps you to develop at your personal pace from beginner to advanced, and it does so without throwing completely new constructs in your brain every day. It comes bundled with some built-in tools for writing, editing and running programs, good and user-friendly documentation (which appears to be better organized than Perl´s doc), and a lot of built-in functions to handle data structures and files in an easily tractable, easily remembered way. By learning Python, you will also learn some advanced concepts (if you want) that could help you to understand the basics of more advanced languages like C++ and Java. Combine that with fine community support and a lot of free third-party modules (you won´t need all of them on your first day, but it is nice to know that they are out there), and I would say that you have all you need in the best way you can get to start your programming career. BW Piet -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Re: Learning Python for a new beginner
Lisa Horton wrote: I hear that Python is one of the easiest languages to learn. It is easier than PHP or Pearl? Is it as useful as those two? I am attracted to Python as a first language, but I just want to be sure I will be able to use it. Opinions, thoughts, thanks! I suggest grabbing the 2.4 Python interpreter and the tutorial from www.python.org (if you're on Windows, the tutorial is included with the installer). There are also resources like "Dive into Python" that may be useful. With respect to PHP, I have no opinion, since I've never needed to use it. With respect to Perl, I find it to be such an inconsistent dog's breakfast that I have the docs page open whenever I have to write or read it. With Python, I first used it for one subject at University, and was able to pick it back up a few years later without even looking at the documentation. Cheers, Nick. -- Nick Coghlan | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Brisbane, Australia --- http://boredomandlaziness.skystorm.net -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
Learning Python for a new beginner
I hear that Python is one of the easiest languages to learn. It is easier than PHP or Pearl? Is it as useful as those two? I am attracted to Python as a first language, but I just want to be sure I will be able to use it. Opinions, thoughts, thanks! -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
