hi mahesh, welcome to python... once you're here, there is no turning back. :-)
> I am hearing a lot about Python > again recently. please tell us how and where you are hearing about Python now... the community is always interested in hearing interesting stories, such as Terrence's. > I was wondering what Python is good for and how will > it help me, since I am already comfortable with C. > > Could someone tell me how Python is useful and why is it a good > language to learn apart from C. Also please point me to a good > starting point for learning Python. i was a C programmer myself... had over 8 years of experience, then began experimenting with C++, Java, Perl, Tcl, etc. the one draw to moving to any language that is more "scriptive" in nature, whether it be Perl, Python or Ruby is that for a slight performance hit (nothing in life is free), you are gaining much more in terms of productivity. you are coding and solving problems at a much more rapid rate than in standard compiled languages like C, C++, and Java. i finally found Python 10 years ago, and have tried to avoid programming in anything else since. :D you are not wasting any (or much) time with boilerplate code, memory management, construction and destruction of primitive and/or heterogeneous data structures, etc. these things are already there for you, so the only things you need to worry about are solving your problems and which algorithms to use. then you can think about all the extra days of vacation you can take because you are not sitting in front of a computer and debugging. another feature of Python is its clean and simple but robust syntax. yes it can do everything that all those other languages can do, but with a syntax as simple as VB or JavaScript? makes others' code easier to read, including your own! you don't have to pull reference books off your shelf to figure out a piece of code you did several months ago. there are many places to start learning Python. since you are already a programmer, you can jump into various online tutorials, such as dive into python ( http://diveintopython.org ), alan gauld's ( http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld/ ), as well as the tutorial in the official docs. if you want to read a book, check out pilgrim's dive into python (same as tutorial above), hetland's beginning python, wrox's (norton et al.), ascher's/lutz's learning python. all are good as python intros for experienced programmers. if you want to dig deeper and not only learn Python, but gain an insight on how things work under the covers, you can also try out my book, core python. it's pretty comprehensive but i try to expose you to enough of how the interpreter works with a goal of making you as *effective* of a Python developer as possible, even as a beginner. as far as Terrence's comment about where things are, in addition to the resources he mentioned, there are two main places to check for existing code: the vaults of parnassus, and PyPI (Python Package Index) aka the Cheeseshop. the latter is the closest thing we have to a "CPAN" at this time. again, welcome to python... we hope you're here to stay. :-) -- wesley - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Core Python Programming", Prentice Hall, (c)2007,2001 http://corepython.com wesley.j.chun :: wescpy-at-gmail.com python training and technical consulting cyberweb.consulting : silicon valley, ca http://cyberwebconsulting.com _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
