What does Python do

[Alex Martelli]

"Cameron Laird" <claird at starbase.neosoft.com> wrote in message
news:2F4DC6312B7FE9DA.74AB95EBEF3C09D4.1D6BDBE5660A1914 at lp.airnews.net...
> In article <LPUa6.4598$Yv.546853 at juliett.dax.net>,
> Dag Sunde <dag at orion.no> wrote:
> >I think Python is _very well suited as a
> >first language...
> .
> .
> .
> I claim an even stronger proposition:  Python
> is the single best language for most beginners.
> Its applicability is as wide as *any* language
> (yes, including C and Java), and it's quite in-
> viting to first-timers.

Just a side-note (I concur with your "stronger
proposition"!)...:

"Total width" may be comparable to C's and Java's,
but there's no complete overlap (with C, at least).

C would not be applicable for an application that
required sending snippets of executable code around
(Java or Python might be), but, OTOH, Python or
Java would not be suitable for writing device drivers
for today's widespread operating systems (the Win32
families, the Unix families, the Mac ones) while C
is quite applicable to that kind of tasks.

_You_ know this, of course, but I'm just trying to
make it clear to other readers (such as the original
poster to this thread) who might not!


Alex