I recall a dicussion which I started on the subject "I want to learn a new programming language: Which one?" in late March 2003, on ilugd, (Unfortunately not on archives). I had Perl in mind when I framed those questions. But this article and my own convictions and study of similar questions at other forums, I decided to move to Python.
Though on personal front I have been highly pre-occupied, I have kept a slow pace of study on Python, and I find it fairly easy to pick up. I have also collected some useful learning resources on Python, and putting to a CD. I hope some day I can distribute and discuss such a CD, as an ilugd resource. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote Quote: In the beginning of your technical career, it takes an effort to learn and understand a programming language but as you go along, language syntax (and programming) takes the back seat and design (and testing) carry majority of the load. Unquote: This is exactly where Python has gained a big ground.It is a very popular as a prototyping language. Designers use it to design a prototype system, independent of performance considerations.Then leave it to the implementor, who has a much better clarity of what is required of him, and then implements it with the language / component appropirate. Microsoft Merchant Server v1.0 was in Python and moved to C++ by v3.0 Quote: Picking a programming language to learn is important and so, pick a language that you think you are going to use in foreseeable future. If you are not sure which one you will be using, pick the one that is most popular and more important, most easy to use. Trying to learn a language that claims to be extremely powerful, flexible, structured, etc. etc. will not help if you end up spending countless hours figuring out what its few lines of code mean. Not only will you feel intimidated by the language, it is very likely that you will end up losing interest in the programming itself. Unquote: Those guiding principles are taking most new learners to Visual Basic, and most people end up designing good screens and simple "Classroom apps". Python introduces better programming concepts such as Lists, Tuples, Dictionary etc before you can do something serious with Python. I do'nt say that they are not present in other languages, but most VB learners do'nt do it. In fact I am still looking for a good Visual Basic vs Python study, and I am not interested in the freedom debate, but strict Language Comparisons. There is one at http://www.jvoegele.com/software/langcomp.html Quote: And if you are already passed that stage, and feel comfortable with couple of programming languages already, it should be of least concern what programming language to learn next since the basic drill is pretty much the same - pick up a book, write test programs, get onto the mailing list and voila! My professor once said - "If you know one programming language well, you can claim to know them all". Unquote: Thats generally right. But most people who did not have an opportunity to do anything after a BASIC / FORTRAN / COBOL course in the University / College, are totally lost at new Object Oriented Programming Languages. There was no GUI Programming or Event based Programming in a GUI environment as we know now, and no Web/Internet programming as is frequently required these days. Python helps people of older generation to pickup from something they learnt in a "Non-commercial" Environment, and move on to modern concepts as per their convenience. Indirectly, can a 10 line program which a student did in GWBASIC can work as it is in Visual Basic?? The common word BASIC in the two, prompts one to think so. Whereas it is more likely to run between GWBASIC/QBASIC/YABASIC/...on any platform!! One more comment; We have moved from a Standard Languages (ANSI/ISO/..) to Proprietary/ Quasi-Proprietary languages. In some way, Python being Open Source and Cross Platform, brings the advantage of learning a Standard Language, and still be employable on any platform. No wonder, many American Schools and Colleges have moved to Python as a first programming language, after doing Pascal-> C -> C++ in previous years. One other winning factor: Python is a glue language. It glues into existing systems and projects. So someone can do a Python in between a Perl / Win32 COM / C++ / Java based project!! Anand Shankar _______________________________________________ ilugd mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd
