while programing in Python, one can lookup syntax or info for keywords or modules within Python.
In the command line, type python to get into the python interactive program. then type help() >From there one can type any keyword or module name to find out the syntax or info. Everything is self-contained and self-explanatory. to exit help, type control-d. if you haven't tried already, you can type 1+1 while running python. The result will be displayed interactively. So in this way, Python can be used as a calculator. --------------------- for perl syntax lookup, use perldoc in the command line. For example: perldoc perl use 'perldoc -f functionName' for specific function. example: perldoc -f qq note that keywords cannot be looked up with -f. For basic keywords like if, while..., use perldoc perlop Master 'perldoc perl' as a way to get familiar of what info are available and what subroutine or aspect of perl is in what section of the documentation associated with what documentation name abbreviation. Master 'perldoc perldoc' to know all its power of options and flexibility. If you use emacs, in particular you want to add the -t option. Master the unix text editor vi to learn the navigation system of perldoc. The basics are: control-f for page down, control-v for page up, q for exit. Also, one may wish to peruse 'perldoc perlfaq' to acquaint yourself about the preamble of nine volumes of perl's FAQ. --------------------------- Note: this post is from the Perl-Python a-day mailing list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/perl-python/ to subscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] if you are reading it on a web page, program examples may not run because they've been changed by yahoo.com or google.com. Xah [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://xahlee.org/PageTwo_dir/more.html -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
