[Tutor] Life after beginner

[Alan Gauld]

Hi Pat,

> My question is, what next? Is there some intermediate tutorials or books

There are lots of more advanced books, usually focusing on a particular 
topic. Some examples include:

Python and Tkinter programming by Grayson

Python Programming on Win32 by Hammond

Text Processing in Python by Mertz

and there are others on XML, etc.

Programming Python by Lutz is also fairly in-depth and the new third edition
promises to be more so. (I intend to replace my first edition when it 
finally
hits the streets!)

And of course Dive into Python sits somewhere between beginner tutor
and advanced specialist book.

> just writing a simple script I might miss. I really want to learn about in
> depth programming and programming style but I am far from an expert. But
> with all the languages I have learned (really touched on) C, C++ perl,

Programming style covers two things:
1) Good fundamental programming rtechnique and
2) language idioms

If you want to be a better programmer in general then you should consider
reading some general programming books such as:

Code Complete by McConnelk - Every programmer should read this

Programming Pearls by Benley - likewise

The Pragmattic Programmer by Hunt & Thomas

The Practice of Programming by Kernighan/Pike

These all discuss general techniques for making programs more
readable, maintainable and more efficient, regardless of language.
(In fact most include examples in multiple languages)

> I want to be able to write large projects in python and carry that
> experience over to the other languages as well.

So join a large project. Sourceforge has lots of opensource projects crying
out for volunteers. You can start by writing documentation as a way of 
getting
to know the system, then testing new releases, then doing bug fixes and 
finally
coding new features. All contributions are welcomed. And you can see your
software being used by the world at large.

HTH,

Alan G
Author of the learn to program web tutor
http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld