[Tutor] Greetings

[Alexandre Ratti]

Hi Dominic,


At 12:00 10/05/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>From: "dominic.fox" <dominic.fox@ntlworld.com>
>Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 22:19:48 +0100
>Subject: [Tutor] Greetings

>I've just joined this list, and decided to dive right in rather than lurk as
>I tend to find that participation increases my enjoyment of email lists (as
>well as the likelihood of my reading anything that appears in them).

Welcome onboard.

>Python appeals to me because, rather like Perl, it lets you wade right in
>with all sorts of highly flexible and accommodating data structures - it
>took about half an hour of playing with Idle for my hatred of VB collections
>to crystallise into pure hard-boiled contempt.

I don't know VB, but I programmed a bit in VBA (to automate stuff in MS 
Office, etc.). IMO, VBA is no match for Python. Python feels much more 
flexible and powerful. In Python, I find myself attempting tricks I 
wouldn't have considered in VBA (and often, they work :-)

>I've got "Programming in Python" coming from Amazon. Anyone got any
>suggestions for other helpful texts, especially for VB-weenies?

I liked "Learning Python" (Mark Lutz and David Ascher, edited by O'Reilly). 
It's fairly short and to the point. As an experienced programmer, you'll 
race through it.

Online, I like http://diveintopython.org/. It's fast-paced, but packed with 
useful information.


Cheers.

Alexandre