[Tutor] Which version to start with?

[wesley chun]

On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 2:24 PM, Nick Hird <nrhird at gmail.com> wrote:
> What is the best version of python to start out with? I see some
> discussions on the net about not going to 3.1 but staying with the 2.x
> releases. But then i see that 3.1 is better if your just starting.


greetings nick!

ironically, i just gave a talk on this very subject yesterday afternoon(!)
http://www.siliconvalley-codecamp.com/Sessions.aspx?OnlyOne=true&id=227

basically, if you're starting from scratch as a hobby with no
pre-existing code, then learning 3.x is okay. however, since most of
the world still runs on Python 2, most printed and online books and
tutorials are still on Python 2, and the code at most companies using
Python is still on version 2, i would recommended any release 2.6 (and
newer). the reason is because 2.6 is the first release that has
3.x-specific features backported to it, so really, it's the first
Python 2 release that lets you start coding against a 3.x interpreter.

you can learn Python using 2.6+ then absorb the differences and move
to Python 3.x quite easily.

hope this helps!
-- wesley
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Core Python Programming", Prentice Hall, (c)2007,2001
"Python Fundamentals", Prentice Hall, (c)2009
    http://corepython.com

wesley.j.chun :: wescpy-at-gmail.com
python training and technical consulting
cyberweb.consulting : silicon valley, ca
http://cyberwebconsulting.com