[BangPypers] Good Python training in blr

[Sriram Narayanan]

On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 10:59 AM, Ramdas S<ramdas at developeriq.com> wrote:
> IMHO, even an experienced hand in C/C++ or Java need not take to Python
> easily, because of the baggage they carry, and they expect certain things to
> work the way their favorite language works. This can be quite frustrating if
> learning Python is for a project they need to start next Monday. This is
> where a trainer can help, because the trainer can guide and point out
> potential pitfalls, and get a developer through the basics in a jiffy.
>

This baggage is indeed an issue. Thinking in terms of a new language
would require reading a lot of code written using that language, and
then too, one cannot be certain.

To give you my own example, I learned my Object Oriented Programming
from really senior Smalltalkers, and I developed and sold components
based on excellent IBM business object frameworks. After I joined
Thoughtworks, I was exposed to a different world where dependency
injection was proposed as an alternative to getters and setters
(accessors, as some of us may call them), where the line between "do
the simplest thing possible" and "do what ever is necessary to
complete just _your_ work for the day" can be a fine line, and where
the same Java language that I had used for six years, was now being
used in a different way.

I had a lot of excess luggage, some of which I still lug around with
me - and all this was on the same language that I had been using.

When you move to a different language, there would have to be paradigm
shifts, new ways of thinking, and even pitfalls that one may not
recognize to be a pitfall.

In such cases, I feel that it can help if one has something like
"Python for Java programmers" - either as a book, as a series of
sample code and or web page articles, or even a training session.

-- Sriram