Hi Matt, and welcome Im not sure if this is what you are looking for, but I ran from python screaming the first few times I tried it. Significant white-space, it really annoyed me for a very long time. I think it probably came from nightmarish experiences with a cobol system I had to work on in college, it had all sorts of weird rules about what had to start in what column.
Python kept cropping up over time as providing nice solutions for problems I needed to solve, and eventually I overcame the block and spent enough time with it to become comfortable. I would be curious to hear a little more about the specifics of the nature of the block. In any case, good luck overcoming the block. (By the way, I have used Perl in the past, but not Fortran, but if I came across a problem that it seemed well suited to I would take it for a spin. I don't consider myself just a Python programmer, only primarily a python programmer, always choose the right tool for the job, and no one language is always the right tool). All the best Sean On Sun, 2010-08-22 at 09:28 -0700, M to the B wrote: > Hello, > > My name is Matt and I've just joined this group. My reason for joining > is that I've a question I'd like to ask Python users and I'm based in > Ireland, so this seems like a reasonable place. I'd like to give a > quick bit of context first, before getting to said question. > > I've been tinkering with computers since I was a kid, and over the > years I've used a fairly wide selection of languages, from assembly to > ML, in different capacities and at different levels of proficiency. > Lately, I've mostly been using Perl at work and while I like Perl for > letting me do what I want and putting bread on the table, I'm very > much aware of its drawbacks. It's also getting a bit long in the > tooth. > As it happens, one of my colleagues -who is probably on this group- is > a Python advocate and has convinced me that Python is the language I > should take up. I've been given useful pointers, I bought a book > but... I still haven't learned a thing about Python because of a > stupid mental block when it comes to the language and its users. I > understand and appreciate that it is wholly irrational and ridiculous > to be afraid of a programming language and therefore I want to ask: > > Has anyone around here overcome similar prejudice before becoming a > Python user? Or maybe in relation to some other language? If so, I'd > like to hear about your experience. > > I wish to assure you I'm not trolling. In my experience, it's not > uncommon for programmers and hackers of various stripes to hold > preconceptions in favour of or against a given language/technology and/ > or its users (would you take up Perl for instance? or FORTRAN?). I'm > hoping that by asking a large enough set of people, I'll come across > folks who have managed to expand their horizons in spite of such > prejudice. > > Thank you, > > - Matt > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Python Ireland" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/pythonireland?hl=en.
