[Glastonbury] Python [WAS: Another company recognizes Liux is HERE!]

[Tim Hall]

Hi all,
I'm a little confused by the direction of this thread and the rather deca=
dent=20
use of the english language. So I've retitled.
One of my main reasons for migrating to Linux was to learn programming.=20

On Monday 23 June 2003 23:13, Maurice Onmaplate wrote:
> How can you say a language that relies upon
> indentation as part of the syntax "is a very friendly
> programming language"? =A0

Try it and see.
It is IMHO far and away the most user-friendly programming language - and=
 a=20
very powerful one at that. In GeekSpeak it's described as executable=20
pseudocode, which means that its syntax is similar to what one might use =
to=20
design a program before getting into the absurdities of the individual=20
language's syntax. Python is FUN to use. Yes I said FUN it's easy to writ=
e=20
and debug. I love it, tho I'm at a very basic stage with it also.

Thanks for the links - they'll be very useful, a decent GUI for python mi=
ght=20
be useful/fun although I find I'm most comfortable hacking things up in=20
nedit, although I still have to work out how to customise the highlightin=
g.

MUSH3.x is my favourite codebase for roleplaying / multiuser stuff (text=20
only, but again, it's FUN) - I'd be interested in finding a local server =
to=20
host a social MUSH at some point [It's a telnet & text based, user extend=
ible=20
chat & roleplaying engine for those of you who aren't familiar]

BTW: wtf does 'visual' mean? I have found VB to be one of the most insane=
 and=20
horribly complex languages - it bears almost no relation to the BASIC tha=
t I=20
learned on my Dragon32 as a teenager - it's horrid, and if you're not usi=
ng=20
M$ bloatware then you don't need to know it :-)
By comparison C++ is simple, but surely, unless you're writing applicatio=
ns=20
that need speed and tight memory management it's unnecessary isn't it? an=
d=20
personally I find the way it handles strings confusing.

If I had my way I'd use Python for everything, but it does require having=
 an=20
interpreter available, so it looks like I'll be learning PHP too. I'm try=
ing=20
to avoid perl for reasons of being bad at punctuation and Java too for mo=
re=20
intuitive reasons although I do like the Object Oriented-ness of it.

It would be nice to learn just one language at a time, but alas, that doe=
s=20
not seem to be the way of it. At some future point I will probably want t=
o=20
teach my son programming and I'm wondering what language to start him off=
 on=20
- probably Python unless anyone has any better suggestions.

cheers

tim hall