In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Bryan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> what is a good alternate language to learn? i just want something to expand > my mind and hopefully reduce or delay any chance of alzheimer's. i would > especially like to hear from those of you who learned python _before_ these > languages. > > haskell, erlang, ocaml, mozart/oz, rebel, etc. I have no experience with any of these. Of course, now I will give my opinions. :-) Just based on my experience with Python, C, C++, BASIC (several flavors), Fortran 77 (mostly). > > i don't require any of these features, but extra browny points for any of > the following: > > interactive interpreter Python has several. > batteries included Not sure what you mean here. Certainly the standard Python packages would offer you an immediately usable Python from Terminal and some other interpreters. But there are LOTS of add-ons available. A big plus with Open Source. Keeping them coordinated is a task, though (a big minus with Open Source). Overall, I haven't had to mess too much to get lots of usability from Python, especially for Scientific computing. > can integrate with c Yes. Several approaches, but none trivial. > compiles to native code No. > can use a gui toolkit such as wx Yep. Wx is here for Python. Also a book on it by Rappin and Dunn (Manning , publ. 2006) > doesn't take 60 hour weeks over years to master You'll be writing code on day 1. Useful code, too. Very, very nice language to learn and use. I recommend Python in a Nutshell by Martelli (O'Reilly Publ.) to read as you learn. Lots of online tutorials. See Python.org, SourceForge and google. I think you can get pretty good at Python coding in a month or so. Along with Perl and Ruby, Python is really a very popular interpreted/scripting language rather than a niche language (which I think most of the ones you mentioned are somewhat niche). That means there's a big, helpful community out there to talk to and lots of code available. I do all my new coding in it and then when I need speed in some routine I rewrite it in C as a Python extension. I can develop many times faster than I could in C/C++ or Fortran or BASIC (even). I cannot compare, however, to the languages you mentioned. Sorry. -- Lou Pecora (my views are my own) REMOVE THIS to email me. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
