What does Python offer?

[Solosnake]

> > Why would it be useful to a games programmer?
>
> Obviously. Blade of Darkness uses it ...

Hmmm. Answering a 'why' question' with 'Obviously' isn't very useful or
informative.

> For (potentially) controlling/modifying other games, you will need to know
> about extending and embedding, but I suggest you get some straight python
> under your belt first ;)

I was really enquiring about how python might differ from other langauges,
and how this might be pertinant to games programming. e.g. I believe it is
an interpreted langugae, as opposed to compiled? So AI code written in
Python could be modified by end users? This cannot be done with C++ unless
you expect the end user to compile his/her own dll. I do not wish to control
or modify other games, I am a student of games programming, I would be using
python in my own games projects.

I do not wish to invest any time in learning python if it is of no special
use, and everything I could do could be done with C++ anyway. How does/can
Python be integrated with other languages e.g. C++? I've read this :
http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/faqw.py?req=show&file=faq05.007.htp
but its scant knowledge to start with.

> http://www.python.org/doc/Newbies.html
I've looked at these, but they are mostly 'Hello World' for python newbies.

> http://www.python.org/doc/current/tut/tut.html
Again, a tutorial on the language, as opposed to details about the
language's features.

> http://www.pygame.org/
> http://pyopengl.sourceforge.net/

I don't want to write my games in python, unless it runs faster then
C/C++/assembly? :)

Thanks,

Dáire