Where is Python in the scheme of things?

[Larry Bates]

gord wrote:
> As a complete novice in the study of Python, I am asking myself where this 
> language is superior or better suited than others. For example, all I see in 
> the tutorials are lots of examples of list processing, arithmetic 
> calculations - all in a DOS-like environment.
> 
> What is particularly disappointing is the absence of a Windows IDE, 
> components and an event driven paradigm. How does Python stand relative to 
> the big 3, namely Visual C++, Visual Basic and Delphi? I realize that these 
> programming packages are quite expensive now while Python is free (at least 
> for the package I am using - ActivePython).
> 
> Please discuss where Python shines.
> Gord
> 
> 
With python I can write:

Windows simple/complex scripts
Windows console applications
Windows COM objects
Windows Services
Windows GUI applications (wxPython, QT, TK)
Windows games
Web framework based apps (Zope, CherryPie, TurboGears, etc).

Linux simple/complex scripts
Linux console applications
Linux daemons
Linux GUI applications  (wxPython, QT, TK)
Linux games

Mac simple/complex scripts
Mac console applications
Mac daemons
Mac GUI applications  (wxPython, QT, TK)
Mac games
Web framework based apps (Zope, CherryPie, TurboGears, etc).

(I haven't personally done a lot on the Mac, but I understand
that these can be done)

Web CGI applications
Web active server pages
Web soap/XML applications

Try to cover all those bases in any of the "big 3".  With
anything other than Python I find I must use multiple
languages and many different collections of libraries.
With Python I'm not constantly bouncing back-and-forth between
languages and now I seem to be always getting better at writing...
you guessed it...Python.  Instead of learning a new language
every time I change platforms, I just add libraries/modules that
meet the specific needs of the platform or the application that
I'm trying to implement.  With version upgrades of multiple
languages on multiple platforms with upgrades to multiple
standard libraries, it was getting completely unmanageable.
If you only have to deal with GUI apps on Windows I guess
VB or Delphi would be fine.  If you need to deploy to multiple
platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac) IMHO neither of them will
work very well.  C++  is as portable, but the extra code that
you must write would be substantial.

-Larry Bates