Good for the soul! -----Original Message----- From: python-list-admin@python.org [mailto:python-list-admin@python.org]On Behalf Of Ron Stephens [mailto:rdsteph@earthlink.net] Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2001 7:12 PM To: python-list@python.org Subject: CP4E and Python newbies, it works! I am a complete newbie, and with a very low programming IQ. Although I had programmed a little in college thirty years ago, in Basic, PL/1 and a very little assembler, and fooled around in later years on PC's at home with Basic, then tried PERL, then an effort at Java, they were all too much trouble to really use to program, given that it was a *hobby* that was supposed to be fun. After all, I have a demanding day job that has nothing to do with software, that requires extensive travel, and four kids, a wife, two dogs, and a cat. Java et al, by the time I had digested a couple of books and put in a lot of hours, was just no fun at all to program; and I had to look in the book every other line of code just to recall the syntax etc.; I could not keep it in my head. Now, four months into Python, after being attracted by reading a blurb about Guido van Rossum's Computer Programming for Everybody project, I am in awe of his achievement. I am having fun; and if I can do so then almost anyone can. I am really absent minded, lazy, and not good at detail. Yet I have done the following in four months, and I believe Python therefore has the potential to open up programming to a much wider audience for a lot of people, which is nice: 1. I have written a half dozen scripts that are meaningful to me in Python, more than I ever accomplished with any other language. 2. I am able to have fun by sitting down in the evening, or especially on a weekend, and just programming in Python. The syntax and keywords are gratifyingly just in my head, enough anyway that I can just program like I am having a conversation, and check the details later for errors etc. This is the most satisfying thing of all. 3. I find the debugger just works; magically, it helps me turn my scripts into actual working programs, simply by rather mindlessly following the road laid out for me by using the debugger. 4. I have pleasurably read more Python books from front cover to back than I care to admit. I must be enjoying myself ;-))) 5. I am exploring Jython, which is also pleasurable. After fooling around with Java a couple of years ago, it is really a kick to see jython generating such detailed Java code for me, just as if I had written it (but it would have taken me untold pain to actually do so in Java). Whether or not I actually end up using the java code so generated, I still am enjoying the sheer experience. 6. I have Zope and other things to look forward to. 7. I am able to enjoy the discussions on this newsgroup, even though they are over my head technically. I find them intriguing. Now, I may never actually accomplish anything truly useful by my programming. But I am happy. I hope that others, younger and brighter than myself, who have an interest in programming, but need the right stimulus to get going, will find Python and produce programs of real value. I think Guido van Rossum and his team should be very proud of what they are enabling. The CP4E idea is alive and well. My hat's off to Guido and the whole community which he has spawned, especially those on this newsgroup. I am humbled and honored to read your erudite technical discussions, as a voyeur of mysteries and wonders I can only dimly see on the horizon, but that nonetheless fill me with mental delight. Ron Stephens -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list