[Discuss] Looking for Python advice

[Deryk Barker]

Alan W. Irwin wrote:
> On 2007-08-18 14:16-0700 Michael wrote:
>
>>    Hello all, I am looking for any and all suggestions regarding
>> learning Python. Specifically I have decided to do some minor coding
>> after a ten year leave, and have chosen Python as the ideal choice. Any
>> tips or suggestions regarding GUI binding, libs, best practises, etc,
>> etc, etc, would be greatly appreciated. Currently O'Reilly's
>> "Programming Python,.3rd Edition" is my primary learning resource.
>
> Python is an extremely rich and powerful language so I think you have 
> made a
> good choice.  The approach I have taken to learning it is just to 
> learn what
> I need to get particular tasks done.  The upside of that approach is my
> learning is highly motivated, and I have created a whole bunch of useful
> Python scripts for my research and software projects. The obvious 
> downside
> of the approach is I have just scratched the surface of the language, and
> certainly my Python learning is still a work in progress. I should 
> probably
> consolidate all the bits and pieces of Python that I know by taking a 
> Python
> course some day, but that day hasn't happened yet so I cannot give you 
> any
> general tips except be careful of indentation!  :-)
>
> To learn about Python, I have used the many on-line resources you can 
> find
> using google and the python.org site.  Also, I bought one book, "Python:
> Essential Reference" which is exactly the terse but useful reference that
> the title implies. I still like that book and refer to it quite a bit.
I'll second what Alan says. I've been using python as my main 
development language for about 10 years now and, while not suggesting 
that one-size-fits-all (remember PL/1 anyone?) it is still the language 
I automatically turn to unless there is some very good reason not to.

People have described programming in python as 'programming in 
pseudocode' and I think this is apt: certainly my pseudocode these days 
tends to be pythonic if not 100% python.

BTW the O'Reilly book - assuming that' the Mark Lutz one - is not IMHO a 
good book. Essential Python  is an essential desktop reference, which 
is  why my copy is so battered.

You might like to try the open source book How to Think Like a Computer 
Scientist (http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/thinkCSpy/) which is also 
available in C++ and Java versions (no comment)

Frankly once one has learned python I can't see why one would ever 
program in anything else, unless either instructed to or for reasons of 
efficiency (in which case one should prototye in python, profile and 
then recode in, say, C and use a tool like SWIG to link the two sides).