Hi, I'm new to python

[millball54]

Hey Everyone

Let me tell you all a little bit about my programming background so
you can get an idea of my capability, or lack of, dealing with p.l;
so far i've learned some visual basic when i was doing my a-levels....
and thats about it lol.

Basically i like the sound of python and its ease of use and would
like to know in depth more about it and its range of useage. Please
do tell me all you know, keeping in mind i am a n00b, so do be
gentle.

Thanks
Millball54

 

[Ravi Teja]

Hey Everyone

Let me tell you all a little bit about my programming background so
you can get an idea of my capability, or lack of, dealing with p.l;
so far i've learned some visual basic when i was doing my a-levels....
and thats about it lol.

Basically i like the sound of python and its ease of use and would
like to know in depth more about it and its range of useage. Please
do tell me all you know, keeping in mind i am a n00b, so do be
gentle.

Thanks
Millball54

Start Here
http://www.python.org/doc/
There is a ton of documentation tailored to learners with differing
skills.

You might also want to pick up a book on Python.

Be sure to read the docs, use Google, search this group for similar
questions in the past before you post questions. They are great
resources. If you have very basic questions, IRC (freenode has a
Python channel), is a better option. When you post, make the question
as specific as possible. Sometimes typing a good question itself gives
you an answer.

Ravi Teja.

 

[Jerry]

I would definitely suggest checking out the documentation at http://
www.python.org/doc/. Also, you can check out the free book Dive into
Python at http://www.diveintopython.org. It provides a great overview
starting at the very beginning. I found it great and hope to buy it
soon to support the author.

Python is considered a general-purpose language (so is Perl by the
way.) It can handle anything from processing text, to running as an
application server (check out http://www.zope.com.) You can also use
pieces of it for web programming. In fact, if you've heard of Ruby on
Rails, then you can see a similar Python project called TurboGears at
http://www.turbogears.com. If you only need a web framework, then you
can also check out Django (http://www.djangoproject.com) and many
other projects designed for getting a web-based application up and
running quickly.

Not to leave you with the impression that it's really only suited for
web stuff, there is also Pygame (http://www.pygame.com), a library and
bindings to SDL so you can write your own games. I am currently
learning Pygame with OpenGL and writing a simple clone of SpaceWars.

I've also written a Jabber bot in Python for use where I used to
work. You can use Python for systems automation as well. I wrote a
small applet that opened SSH connections to every server in a list and
then sent all the text you typed into a single box to all servers at
the same time.

I'm currently learning how to use Python with osascript to control
applications in Mac OS X and have dabbled a little with the win32com
stuff to have Python control some aspects of Windows.

As you can see, it's an extremely versatile language and is really
only limited by your imagination.

There are some things that it doesn't do so well, but for the most
part, those things have solutions. For example, Python is typically
slower than other languages when you must iterate over something many
times. For example, in game programming, to iterate over the entire
list of objects in the world to update their positions or draw them.
Many times things like this can be moved into C libraries to make then
run faster. I myself haven't had many problems with this at all. In
fact, none of my iteration code is in C for my game.

Well, that's enough rambling for me. I've turned this post into a
commercial for Python. I hope that I've left you with enough ideas to
get started in the language.

 

[millball54]

Thanks very much guys for your help.. Its been greatly appreciated.