[Tutor] New to pythong

[Marc Tompkins]

On Mon, Jul 7, 2008 at 9:40 AM, Jeremiah Stack <ttlingit at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> Hello everybody:
>
> I am new to this mailing list, and it said that i could the simplest of
> questions. So i was wondering if anyone could be so kind as to e-mail me a
> project idea or something to go out an learn to do in python. I don't know
> any languages, but i am definitely not computer illiterate. i have read so
> many tutorial about getting started but so far that is where the tutorial
> have left me ( how to print  "Hello World") and such.
>
> Any ideas great thanks.
>
>
First of all, I mean no offense to the OP.  However, this question comes up
a lot on this list, and it always bugs me.  People decide they want to learn
Python, and then ask strangers to give them a reason to do it.  I may be
totally wrong about this, but it doesn't seem like a good way to learn
_anything_, let alone a programming language.  The most important element
for success is enthusiasm, and how can you generate any enthusiasm working
on somebody else's homework project?  Unless you learn best under external
discipline, in which case I suggest you take a class...

My advice to all potential Pythonistas who want to learn on their own: think
of a problem you need to solve, or a cool game you've wanted to implement,
or a tool you want but don't have.  In my own case, I had a project I needed
to do (printing mailing labels from records in an old proprietary database)
that was going to suck if I used only the tools I already had.  I'd been
wanting to get into Python, and I decided to use Python to do the job and
learn as I went.  It was WONDERFUL, and I've been in love with Python ever
since.  (Yes, I've used it for fun stuff since then, but my first experience
was of Python saving me hours and hours of pain.)

If you don't have a professional task that you could apply Python to, just
look around your environment for a day or so looking for problems to solve.
(My favorite example of this, although it's a very silly program and written
in JavaScript besides, is Roast Beef's "Eggs and Milk Minder" from
Achewood<http://achewood.com/index.php?date=05082002>.)


Just my &euro;0.0075...

-- 
www.fsrtechnologies.com
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