C/C++ is used for a lot of things and not going anywhere. I recommend you learn it not because you should create applications in C or C++, but because it will increase your skills and value as a programmer. I recommend you even spend a few weeks with an assembly language, for the same reason.
However, when it comes to beginning new things with an eye for getting the job done, C/C++ (or Java for that matter...) is usually a bad idea. That having been said, there are always exceptions to the rule and you'll learn better how to call things as you advance your skills as a programmer. There are also sometimes parts of your application that just cannot be optimized any more in a high level language, and might benefit from being converted to C or C++. But do yourself a favor and only do such things after taking careful measurements and exhausting other options. Many time consuming algorithms don't gain a noticable speed improvement in lower level languages. -Sandra -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
