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user1397
October 4th, 2006, 09:18 PM
for all you learning python or profusely good at it, please give me some advice.

first of all, can python be learned without really knowing any other languages first, or does it help to know some language before-hand?

are there any good online tutorials for python? or is it better to learn it from a book? if so, which book did you find to be the best?

does python work on all operating systems? (i mean the most current ones)

what's the best program to code python in linux? in windows?

thanks in advance

Lord Illidan
October 4th, 2006, 09:21 PM
for all you learning python or profusely good at it, please give me some advice.

first of all, can python be learned without really knowing any other languages first, or does it help to know some language before-hand? Python is a beginner language...so you can work at it without knowing any previous language.


also, are there any good online tutorials for python? or is it better to learn it from a book? if so, which book did you find to be the best?

I learned it from online tutorials...google is your friend, as well as this site : http://docs.python.org/tut/


also, does python work on all operating systems? (i mean the most current ones)

thanks in advance

Yes, it works on all OSes..don't worry bout that.. Windows, Mac, Linux, everything.

basketcase
October 4th, 2006, 09:30 PM
Why Python? I've thought about learning it myself, but I can't seem to bring myself to sit down long enough to learn a programming language...as much as I would like to.

subscribed...

Lord Illidan
October 4th, 2006, 09:34 PM
Why Python? I've thought about learning it myself, but I can't seem to bring myself to sit down long enough to learn a programming language...as much as I would like to.

subscribed...

Python is an easy language..ideal for beginners, and it can be used to do many things...

Ayman
October 4th, 2006, 09:57 PM
Python is an excellent language for non-programmers, it's simple and easy to learn, yet very powerful, I highly recommend you to start with it :)

For tutorials, Python.org has a list of tutorials for non-programmers, take a look:
http://www.python.org/doc/Intros.html

Wikibooks also has a Python tutorial for non-programmers:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Non-Programmer%27s_Tutorial_for_Python/Contents

Good luck!

DoctorMO
October 4th, 2006, 10:03 PM
I'm offering free tutoring to anyone serious in learning python via voip or im in exchange for using those skills for good on some oss projects. (mainly I could do with some third minds with dohickey but anything will do) maniacmusician can vouch my teaching ability ;)

doctormo [at] gmail

tutorials are good mentioned above, I found running python and playing with the commands to be useful but then again I wasn't starting a language.

elektrolott
October 4th, 2006, 10:04 PM
check out http://diveintopython.org

skymt
October 4th, 2006, 10:05 PM
I'll add my favorite Python for Beginners guide: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist (http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/thinkCSpy/). Don't worry, it doesn't assume any programming experience. The book isn't nearly as scary as the title! ;)

Anonii
October 4th, 2006, 10:06 PM
I'll add my favorite Python for Beginners guide: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist (http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/thinkCSpy/). Don't worry, it doesn't assume any programming experience. The book isn't nearly as scary as the title! ;)
I second that.

(It requires some basic knowledge of maths, btw.)

user1397
October 4th, 2006, 10:13 PM
Geez I love this community. In less than an hour, I get all of my questions answered, and with variety, plus an optional free Python class?!!! Thank you everybody.

@DoctorMo

I think i'll stick to online tutorials for now, but thanks so much for your offer. i might try one of your lessons one day, do you use skype for that?

DoctorMO
October 4th, 2006, 10:28 PM
I think i'll stick to online tutorials for now, but thanks so much for your offer. i might try one of your lessons one day, do you use skype for that?

IM for now, but I see no reason to keep it limited. it might be worth podcasting.

user1397
October 4th, 2006, 10:31 PM
IM for now, but I see no reason to keep it limited. it might be worth podcasting.sounds very interesting. thanks for giving so much of your time for such a wonderful cause.

which IM program do you use? and you're talking VoIP here, right?

DoctorMO
October 4th, 2006, 10:35 PM
I use Gaim with MSN; and ekiga for VoIP.

user1397
October 4th, 2006, 10:42 PM
I use Gaim with MSN; and ekiga for VoIP.ah, ok. one day i might IM or call you, you never know[-(

user1397
October 4th, 2006, 10:44 PM
are most default ubuntu programs written in python? if not, what are some examples of well-known linux programs that are written in python? (i know tovid is at least)

DoctorMO
October 4th, 2006, 10:47 PM
Quite a few things are done in python/gtk+/glade; once you grasp python you'll need to move onto glade/gtk+ which allows you to create gui applications.

Try this: http://www.awaretek.com/python/

maniacmusician
October 5th, 2006, 12:46 AM
@erik1397:
too bad you couldn't take Martin up on his offer of the python class, we could have used the extra mind with dohickey, hehe. but in any case, good luck on your python trip, hope you get something out of it

user1397
October 5th, 2006, 12:57 AM
@erik1397:
too bad you couldn't take Martin up on his offer of the python class, we could have used the extra mind with dohickey, hehe. but in any case, good luck on your python trip, hope you get something out of ithey! by not taking up his offer, I did not imply that I wouldn't help on any projects. i just want to start slow, and take it at my own pace, on my own time.

who knows, maybe i'll help on the dohickey project some time from now!

basketcase
October 5th, 2006, 01:38 AM
Maybe I'll take him up on it. I've wanted to learn a language so that I could contribue more to the Open Source community...and I have a few things I'd like to try.

I'm leaving town tomorrow, but will be back after the weekend. If the offer is still available I might just take him up on the offer!

maniacmusician
October 5th, 2006, 01:51 AM
hey! by not taking up his offer, I did not imply that I wouldn't help on any projects. i just want to start slow, and take it at my own pace, on my own time.

who knows, maybe i'll help on the dohickey project some time from now!
I wasn't implying anything of the sort :D I understand your decision totally, and wasnt disagreeing with it in any way. I'm sure that once you get on your feet with the programming, you'll be a great asset to the open source community. I was just being light hearted :) anyways, if you ever do want to help with dohickey, you're welcome too. as i posted in another thread,

unfortunately, you won't be seeing it at its potential because right now we're in between releases (the next one will be a pretty major release), and we're even rebuilding our website from the ground up (quitting googlepages). I'm having a lot of issues with school right now so I don't know when DoctorMO will roll out version 0.5 (it'll be at the same time as the website, which i'm working on). But when 0.5 comes around, we will start a thread in the cafe, be on the lookout for it within the next few weeks.
once the 0.5 release crawls out, we'll need lots of help in all forms.

@basketcase: awesome. I can vouch for Martin's credibility on this subject. If you want a small example of his work, you can go to the Dohickey website in my sig (a little dated, the new one is under construction at the moment) and see the client. He coded that in python and made the gui in Glade/GTK+.

DoctorMO
October 5th, 2006, 06:22 AM
Thanks maniacmusician,

After my being able to help with maniacmusician and his html/css skills it was an idea that perhaps some people need a personal touch which gets them motivated or perhaps someone whos there just incase of dificult questions.

I've always found irc.freenode.org #python to be very useful. and learning python is really vdry froody.

3rdalbum
October 5th, 2006, 07:31 AM
first of all, can python be learned without really knowing any other languages first, or does it help to know some language before-hand?

It definately helps, but I think a Linux user is capable of picking up Python without previous programming experience. If you take formal programming classes, even if in a language like Java, you will still learn the "tricks of the trade" which you can apply to Python.



does python work on all operating systems? (i mean the most current ones)

There are versions of Python for even outdated operating systems. For instance, you can get Python for Mac OS 9 and 68k Macs (both versions unmaintained, but hey!).



what's the best program to code python in linux? in windows?

Not sure about Windows, but I'm a fan of Stani's Python Editor (SPE). But GEdit on Dapper will also do in a pinch.


are most default ubuntu programs written in python? if not, what are some examples of well-known linux programs that are written in python?

The Ubiquity/Espresso Live CD installer is written in Python. I believe GDebi is written in Python too. iPodder is a Python app, as is the official Bittorrent client and a couple of the GTK music managers like Exaile and Quod Libet.

user1397
October 5th, 2006, 09:26 PM
thanks for the naswers, 3rdalbum

ComplexNumber
October 5th, 2006, 09:35 PM
what's the best program to code python in linux?
some of note are eric(qt based), IDLE(tk based), PyPE(gtk based).




are most default ubuntu programs written in python? if not, what are some examples of well-known linux programs that are written in python?
python programs form an ever increasing number of linux programs. in fact, its almost getting to the point where most of the new apps available seem to be written in python.