Hello people. I have some questions

[Alex Martelli]

"jeroen paul goudsmit" <hcj.goudsmit at wanadoo.nl> wrote in message
news:ZE4j7.33$Cz3.327 at pollux.casema.net...
> So, python simply is the best language ever.

Some of us think this, yes, but then what did you expect to
hear around here -- have you noticed the name of the group?-)
Ask in comp.lang.{ada, apl, awk, ...} and you may get very
different opinions:-).

> Ok i heard engough. It's time to get python for me. You just can buy  it
in
> a shop, can't you?

Some books about Python (that you can buy in a shop) carry
CD's including some version of Python (usually an old one:-)
and you can buy (in shops) other CD's that include Python
(but, again, often an old one).

I would suggest you download it from the net instead.  Even
if you don't have a connection yourself for such things as
downloads, I'm sure you can walk into a net cafe (hey, this
IS a kind of shop!) where for a small fee they'll download
whatever you want and burn a CDR for you, or something (hey,
you can do it here in backwards Italy, surely advanced
Netherlands can't be behind!-).

If you use a Windows platform, you can get the latest
released version e.g. at
http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.1.1/Python-2.1.1.exe
(6 MB) or a richer bundle with lots more stuff at (note,
just one URL, you'll probably have to put it together
again!):
http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Downloads/ActivePython/Download?OS=Windows&
version=2.1.1&build=212&download=/ActivePython/windows/2.1/ActivePython-2.1.
1.msi
(12 MB, plus, it's a MicroSoftInstaller .msi file so you
need the latest MSI from Microsoft -- more instructions at
http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Downloads/ActivePython/).


ActiveState also has pre-built Python for download for a
few other platforms (Linux and Solaris), and www.python.org
has links to many others, as well as a .tar.gz tarball of
sources to download and install "anywhere" -- whatever your
platform, you're likely to find a good Python solution.

> Are all the special thingies included?

Not even the ActivePython version from ActiveState includes
ALL goodies -- it's just 12MB zipped, after all, and the
amount of goodies available for Python vastly exceeds this.
But it's BY FAR enough to get you started!-).  The ActiveState
version comes with all the specials needed to do specific
Windows things (the Windows API's, particularly COM and
Automation and ActiveScripting etc etc), but you really
need the O'Reilly-published book about Python on Win32 to
get full advantage from all of that (it's a great book).
If you choose to start with the far smaller download from
www.python.org, you can later download and install just
the win32all extensions on top of it, no problem.

> Nwa, i'm just
> going to try it! I guess you'll see me here a lot the coming months.

Many happy returns!


Alex