I envy newbies

[Ivan Van Laningham]

Hi Mary--

mary jeanette wrote:
> 
> I decided to learn python because I heard it was a very easy language to
> learn. So I downloaded it and bought a couple of very expensive
> paperback books from o'reilly only to discover that they are written for
> unix. In other words, typing in the examples from the book into the
> interpretor only yields various syntax errors. I have no idea what I am
> supposed to change in order to make the examples work, and apparently
> there is nowhere to turn in order to find out. Q: Am I supposed to know
> DOS as a prerequisite? The idea of having to learn DOS is appalling.
> Should I try partitioning my hard drive and installing Linux or freeBSD?
> Perhaps I should learn Perl instead, I have seen books on Perl written
> for Win32 systems.   Thanks for your advice.

The example Python code should work just fine in the interpreter,
regardless of whether the OS is UNIX or DOS or Windows or Mac.  Only a
few small parts of Python are platform-specific enough to cause problems
if not run on UNIX.  *Please* don't give up on Python so easily!  You
would regret learning Perl instead, although it is true that if you
learn Perl, you'll have no trouble learning Python!

Why don't you post some example code that you tried on your Windows/DOS
platform that caused syntax errors?  There are hundreds of nice people
here who would *love* to help you get started, but we can't do it unless
you give us a little more to go on.  If you post code, we can help.  If
you're not specific enough about your problems, we can only lend a
sympathetic ear.

<no-no-not-the-comfy-perl!>-ly y'rs,
Ivan
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Ivan Van Laningham
Callware Technologies, Inc.
ivanlan at callware.com
ivanlan at home.com
http://www.pauahtun.org
See also: 
http://www.foretec.com/python/workshops/1998-11/proceedings.html
Army Signal Corps:  Cu Chi, Class of '70
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