What to do after Python?

[bowman]

Jim Eaton <eatonalive%qwestinternet.net at pop3.qwestinternet.net> wrote in
message news:3A8F81BC.108488CA at pop3.qwestinternet.net...
>
> Wlll going into Java first be any detriment to
> learning C later?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Java will not be a detriment, but it won't be a great help either. A C
progammer is responsible for memory management and any data structure beyond
a struct. In Python and Java, lists, hashes, tuples and so forth are
available for use out of the box. In C, dynamically constructing a doubly
linked list, as well as iterating it, is a common task that devolves on the
programmer. It is also a task that is commonly screwed up, resulting in
SIGSEGV cores and a familiarity with the debugger of your choice.

This is not an argument that C is any better a language; in most cases the
best language is the one that offers the highest level of abstraction and
still can accomplish the task at hand.

For instance, though I'd quibble about SQL being a language, I certainly use
embedded SQL or a CLI interface to the database engine and wouldn't dream of
re-inventing the interface in C.