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Beginner's guide to Python

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  Beginner's guide to Python Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2013-09-04 07:26 +0200
    Re: Beginner's guide to Python Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-09-04 17:10 +1000
    Re: Beginner's guide to Python "prashanth B.G" <prash.bg@gmail.com> - 2013-09-04 11:49 +0530
    Re: Beginner's guide to Python Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-09-04 14:03 +0000
      Re: Beginner's guide to Python Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2013-09-04 18:09 +0200
    Re: Beginner's guide to Python Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2013-09-04 23:39 -0400
    Re: Beginner's guide to Python Andrew Berg <robotsondrugs@gmail.com> - 2013-09-04 23:03 -0500
    Re: Beginner's guide to Python Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-09-05 14:14 +1000
      Re: Beginner's guide to Python Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2013-09-05 07:27 +0000

#53597 — Beginner's guide to Python

Can anyone recommend a web site that gives a good beginner's guide to Python?

One that tells one, especially --

-- what kind of projects Python is good for 
-- what kind of projects it is not good for
-- a simple explanation of how it works
-- a kind of beginner's tutotial and guide to its syntax

I've read about Python, and installed it on my computer when I found it on a
DVD that came with a magazine, but I haven't got a clue about how to use it.

So any advice on the best web sites for absolute novices would be welcome. 


-- 
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

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#53601

On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 3:26 PM, Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
> Can anyone recommend a web site that gives a good beginner's guide to Python?
>
> One that tells one, especially --
>
> -- what kind of projects Python is good for
> -- what kind of projects it is not good for
> -- a simple explanation of how it works
> -- a kind of beginner's tutotial and guide to its syntax
>
> I've read about Python, and installed it on my computer when I found it on a
> DVD that came with a magazine, but I haven't got a clue about how to use it.
>
> So any advice on the best web sites for absolute novices would be welcome.

I'd start with the standard docs tutorial:

http://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/

Which version of Python have you installed? You may want to consider,
if the DVD has an old version, getting the latest one off the web
site.

ChrisA

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#53602

[Multipart message — attachments visible in raw view] — view raw

Hi Steve ,

       These links might be of help .

       http://swaroopch.com/notes/python/   -- Very well explained for
beginners

       http://www.diveintopython.net/  -- Must read to pick up advanced
stuff . This can also be used as a starting point to figure out what python
might be used for .


      Hope this works for you .

Thanks.


On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 10:56 AM, Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:

> Can anyone recommend a web site that gives a good beginner's guide to
> Python?
>
> One that tells one, especially --
>
> -- what kind of projects Python is good for
> -- what kind of projects it is not good for
> -- a simple explanation of how it works
> -- a kind of beginner's tutotial and guide to its syntax
>
> I've read about Python, and installed it on my computer when I found it on
> a
> DVD that came with a magazine, but I haven't got a clue about how to use
> it.
>
> So any advice on the best web sites for absolute novices would be welcome.
>
>
> --
> Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
> Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
> E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop
> uk
> --
> https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
>



-- 
             *****HAVE A NICE DAY *****

                         Prashanth

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#53625

On 2013-09-04, Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:

> Can anyone recommend a web site that gives a good beginner's guide to Python?

http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/

> -- what kind of projects Python is good for

Text processing
Scientific data analysis and visualization
Database stuff
CRM
Web sites
Data communications
Games
System administration tools

> -- what kind of projects it is not good for

OS kernels and device drivers

> -- a simple explanation of how it works

That depends on what "it" is.

> -- a kind of beginner's tutotial and guide to its syntax

Google "python tutorial"

-- 
Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! It's a lot of fun
                                  at               being alive ... I wonder if
                              gmail.com            my bed is made?!?

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#53635

On Wed, 4 Sep 2013 14:03:09 +0000 (UTC), Grant Edwards
<invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

>On 2013-09-04, Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:
>
>> Can anyone recommend a web site that gives a good beginner's guide to Python?
>
>http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/
>
>> -- what kind of projects Python is good for
>
>Text processing
>Scientific data analysis and visualization
>Database stuff
>CRM
>Web sites
>Data communications
>Games
>System administration tools
>
>> -- what kind of projects it is not good for
>
>OS kernels and device drivers

Thanks very much for this, and to others who also replied. 



-- 
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

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#53666

On Wed, 04 Sep 2013 07:26:47 +0200, Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net>
declaimed the following:

>Can anyone recommend a web site that gives a good beginner's guide to Python?
>
>One that tells one, especially --
>
>-- what kind of projects Python is good for 

	So far as I know, Python is "Turing-complete" -- it can be used for
anything... 

>-- what kind of projects it is not good for

... anything that the implementation is not sufficient to support (a
web-server with few connections per second is probably fine; trying to run
Google search in pure Python, maybe not -- though lots of Google may use
Python)

>-- a simple explanation of how it works

	Python is a byte-code compiled/interpreted language in the most common
implementation -- without the overhead of having to first run the
compilation phase (a la Pascal P-code or Java); imported modules are
compiled the first time they are imported, thereafter the compiled file is
imported instead.

>-- a kind of beginner's tutotial and guide to its syntax
>
	Uhm... The Python Tutorial and Language Reference Manual -- included as
part of most all installation packages.

-- 
	Wulfraed                 Dennis Lee Bieber         AF6VN
    wlfraed@ix.netcom.com    HTTP://wlfraed.home.netcom.com/

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#53669

On 2013.09.04 22:39, Dennis Lee Bieber wrote:
> On Wed, 04 Sep 2013 07:26:47 +0200, Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net>
> declaimed the following:
> 
>>Can anyone recommend a web site that gives a good beginner's guide to Python?
>>
>>One that tells one, especially --
>>
>>-- what kind of projects Python is good for 
> 
> 	So far as I know, Python is "Turing-complete" -- it can be used for
> anything... 
So is Brainfuck, but I wouldn't say it's good for *any* project...

-- 
CPython 3.3.2 | Windows NT 6.2.9200 / FreeBSD 9.2

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#53670

On Thu, Sep 5, 2013 at 2:03 PM, Andrew Berg <robotsondrugs@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 2013.09.04 22:39, Dennis Lee Bieber wrote:
>> On Wed, 04 Sep 2013 07:26:47 +0200, Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net>
>> declaimed the following:
>>
>>>Can anyone recommend a web site that gives a good beginner's guide to Python?
>>>
>>>One that tells one, especially --
>>>
>>>-- what kind of projects Python is good for
>>
>>       So far as I know, Python is "Turing-complete" -- it can be used for
>> anything...
> So is Brainfuck, but I wouldn't say it's good for *any* project...

There are always surprises. A few years ago (okay, a good few now) I
was gobsmacked to learn that JavaScript, which I'd always thought was
for web browsers only, could be used for writing web *servers*. And
the inverse is true, too - Pike, a language specifically designed for
building servers (specifically MUDs - plain text), has bindings for
GTK, so it can be used for writing graphical desktop applications.

But there are definite goals and philosophies that affect whether a
language is good for something or not. Python is extremely well suited
to short scripts that do one tiny thing and immediately shut down,
because it has an absolute minimum of boilerplate; other languages,
where you have to wrap your code up in "int main() { ... }" are less
suited to that. On the flip side, Python's object model tends to be
less well suited to massive scaling; I don't know about PyPy and other
Pythons, but certainly CPython isn't designed to run on arbitrary
numbers of cores (once you go to multiprocessing, you then need to
worry about IPC; if you work in a lower level language like C, you can
use threads and directly access each other's memory). "Everything is
permissible" - but not everything is constructive. [1] Sometimes
you're fighting the language rather than working with it.

ChrisA

[1] Did you know that the Corinthian church needed advice on
programming? First letter, tenth chapter, twenty-third verse.

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#53678

On Thu, 05 Sep 2013 14:14:34 +1000, Chris Angelico wrote:

> ...Python's object model tends to be less well suited to massive
> scaling; 

That's probably true.


> I don't know about PyPy and other Pythons, but certainly
> CPython isn't designed to run on arbitrary numbers of cores (once you go
> to multiprocessing, you then need to worry about IPC; if you work in a
> lower level language like C, you can use threads and directly access
> each other's memory). 

I think that's an exaggeration. CPython *is* designed to run on an 
arbitrary number of cores, but you need to approach it via techniques 
that you might not use in other languages.

It would only be valid to say that "CPython is not designed to use 
multiple cores" if threads were the *only* valid way to use multiple 
cores. "Use multiprocessing" is just as much a valid way to use multiple 
cores as "use threads" might be in another language, and by some 
accounts, better than threads.

Or you can use IronPython or Jython, neither of which have the GIL. Or 
use Stackless:

http://entitycrisis.blogspot.com.au/2009/06/stackless-vs-gil-its-draw.html


-- 
Steven

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