On Feb 2, 9:11 pm, John Bokma <j...@castleamber.com> wrote: > Jonathan Gardner <jgard...@jonathangardner.net> writes: > > I can explain, in an hour, every single feature of the Python language > > to an experienced programmer, all the way up to metaclasses, > > Either you're a hell of a talker, or I am far, far away from being an > experienced programmer. It's advocacy like this, IMO, that keeps people > away from a language, because you can't feel nothing but a failure after > a statement like this. >
I can explain all of Python in an hour; I doubt anyone will understand all of Python in an hour. Coming from perl to python, the big "aha!" moment was when I realized there wasn't anything more than what I saw before me. I kept expecting something big around the corner, kind of like when I first discovered refs in perl, or when I realized how hard it truly was to write OO code in perl that actually does what you think it should do. Perl has trained me to be fearful of the language, constantly on the lookout for jabberwockies. If you fall into one of those traps in perl, it's because you weren't smart enough and aren't worthy of the language, or so they say. It's never perl's fault. I mean, doesn't everyone know what the Schwartzian Transform is? Python is the complete opposite. Go through http://docs.python.org/reference/ . Once you've familiarized yourself with all the operators, statements, and the special methods, you're done with syntax and the core language. There is no more. The next step is to learn the basic objects and functions in builtins. That's in the first seven chapters of http://docs.python.org/library/index.html. You can always fall back to the "help" function to remind yourself if you forget. I do it all the time. After that, it's merely figuring out which standard libraries do what and how. The documentation there is complete and awesome, and there are more than enough people willing to point you in the right direction here. There are no dragons in this forest. Heck, this isn't even a forest--- it's a single-room apartment with everything you need right there where you can see it. The thermostat is set to room temperature, and no matter what happens outside, you're safe and protected from it all. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
