[Tutor] 'class' for someone with no object oriented programming experience

[Alan Gauld]

> Classes elude me almost entirely.  I've followed the tutorials at
> http://bit.ly/MCAhYx and http://goo.gl/c170V but in neither one do
> classes click.

OK, the problem is all those tutorials assume you understand OOP and 
only show you how Python does it. You need something that explains OOP 
first (or as well).

You can try the OOP topic in my tutor or google for an intro to OOP.
Unfortunately OOP is one of those topics that has grown up from several 
different sources and so there are many slightly divergent views on what 
exactly it means. But the general gist is usually the same.

> element to python, it's like building a car from the ground up but never
> learning how to add oil.

Actually you can go a very long way in Python without OOP.
Certainly without classes. Its more like building a car
from the ground up but not understanding thermodynamics.


> As an example, I am going to reference this:
> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6671620/list-users-in-irc-channel-using-twisted-python-irc-framework

Don;t even contemplate using Twisted as a concept learning tool, except 
for Twisted itself! :-)

Twisted is very powerful but its not for beginners.

> Are there any better resources for learning classes for someone who's
> never touched object oriented programming in the past besides basic
> interpretation for debugging purposes?

There are many but the focus needs to be on OOP - the why and wherefore 
not the language syntax.

-- 
Alan G
Author of the Learn to Program web site
http://www.alan-g.me.uk/