python is hard to learn without c

[Martijn Faassen]

jin choung <jin.choung at gte.net> wrote:
> howdy all,

> i programmed a bit in BASIC as a kid, had a high school PASCAL class and i
> tried to pick up python before moving on to c++.  however, i was trying to
> work my way through the book LEARNING PYTHON and while it says that there is
> no need to have prior experience in languages like c or c++, i really found
> that that was not true.

> anyone else feel this way?

I think that this would be more a problem of the book (Learning Python)
than a problem with the language. "Learning Python", while it's fine for
people who have significant experience with another language, really should've
gotten a different title, in my opinion. It's *not* good for people with
little or no experience with programming. I've heard both "The Quick
Python Book" and "Python in 24 hours" are much better in that respect.

"Learning Python" assumes too much that a newbie programmer really doesn't
know. I've tried to teach Python to someone with that book, but the book
was just too much for her. Too many concepts assumed that she didn't
know about. That said, it has worked for others.

> i'm currently working my way through a 24 hour c++ book and i think this is
> going to work for me.

Oh, you are so wrong. :) I mean, you may pick up some simple C++, but C++
is definitely a way more complicated language than Python. You just picked
up a book that works better for you than the Python book, but the language
is far far more complicated. It takes many people a year to get proficient
in C++; even experienced programmers. It rarely takes an experienced
programmer longer than a month to get proficient with Python, especially if
that programmer has experience with object oriented concepts.

> oh, well, will be back to contribute here in a couple
> of months... in the meantime, i'll just leech valuable nuggets of wisdom
> from you guys.

I do suggest you take a look at some other Python books first, and then
take a look at some other C++ books. C++ is really not an easy language
to pick up. And it's really not necessary to learn C or C++ before you
can learn Python -- the other way around is indeed an easier path to take.

Regards,

Martijn
-- 
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