Virgil,
> But somebody intrigued me the other day because its hard for an old dog to
> learn new tricks and I believe somebody said python is a lot like foxpro in
> some aspects
I did a fair amount of PHP after I left Fox and achieved some good
results.
Now, after working with Python for 2 years, having to look at PHP code
makes me want to poke out my eyes with a pencil.
Really, its that painful.
Python is a blast to play with. The default IDE is a bit dated looking,
but its like the command window on steroids. There's a built-in data
engine (SQLite), and an incredible collection of built-in features
('batteries included') that you would normally have to purchase as 3rd
party components. Some examples off the top of my head: zip file/string
handling, POP/IMAP mailbox manipulation, SMTP support, web server
interfaces, web server frameworks (deploy your apps as standalone web
servers - we're doing that now - very cool), encryption, hashing (MD5,
SHA1), GUIDs, regular expressions, powerful directory and file
manipulation, etc. There's also a great, free, 3rd party wrapper for the
Windows API. Like Fox you can package your apps as exe or just
distribute your program (py vs. prg) files if someone has the free
interpreter.
There's even a framework for visually building client side apps similar
to the GUI approach provided by VFP. I think this tool is called
something like Dabo :)
Finally, the Python community rocks! There are a bunch of mailing lists
- all with very high signal to noise ratio. Remember the hey-day of Fox
when your mailbox felt it was being fed by a fire hose and the air was
filled with excitement about future releases of your favorite tool?
That's what it's like in the Python world.
Jump in - the water's fine :)
Malcolm
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