Python is in my opinion the best "all-purpose" language ever designed ( lisp is extremely cool but not as all purpose.) Much more elegant than perl and far far easier to do cool things than java (java is c++ on valium).
HOWEVER, "all purpose" needs a little disclosure. A well coded C program may be 100 times faster than Python. C forces you to learn some things about relative addressing and memory management. C is pretty much required for interrupt handling. Python is coded in C. (everthing is coded in C, including C) The C language embodies a language design philosophy which has influenced everything for 30 years. So Python is just a wonderful way to learn about things like algorithms, with relatively little pain. But the bottom line for a would be computer scientist is that Python is sort of like a model or an abstraction of C (which itself is a very weak (but convenient) model of the CPU) IMHO There probably is NO college where you can get out of C++ and Java. Too bad. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I posted a article earlier pertaining programming for my boss. Now I am > gonna ask a question about programming for myself. I just finished my > first C++ Class. Next semester is a class on encryption(and it's > probably gonna be a math class too). And finally back in programming in > the fall with C++ and Java 1. The C++ will cover pointers, and linked > lists, sorting algorithms, etc... I run linux and OS X. I have read in > the old days that C was used for everything. It was a systems > programming language, and also did a lot of the same stuff Bash scripts > and perl do now. So, in that era, C did it all, from short to tall. My > question is, can Python "do it all"? I am wondering what to learn as my > scripting language. I have read that perl is good up to about 250 > lines, and after that it gets kind of hairy. However, from what little > I have heard about Python, it's very well suited for readability due to > the whitespace requirements of the language, and very good for large > projects due to it's large amount of modules and it's object oriented > structure. I would like opinions as to the suitability of Python as a > general purpose language for programming unix, everything from short > scripts to muds. Thanks for your patience, opinions, and comments. > > Xeys > > -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
