Python training time (was)

[Brandon Van Every]

Alex Martelli wrote:
>
> Your ear is playing you false, again.  The short time it takes
> to become highly productive with Python does not afford any
> substantial chance of becoming much better with C++: the
> latter is just too complex for any _rapid_ improvement.

Ok, here's how my life went.  In May 1992 I graduated from university.  In
January 1993 I sat down with a 486 Linux PC and learned C++.  It took me a
year.  By the end of that time, I'd done every single abstruse thing
possible with C++.  Really ridiculous multiple inheritance templates with
cyclical virtual base classes and whatnot.  So, having spent the time up
front, C++ hasn't been a big deal for me for 10 years.  Recently I brushed
up on some of the "new" ANSI C++ stuff.  A small pile of additional things I
don't need much.  I don't have a single funky_cast operator in my entire
code base now, although I had 1 or 2 over the past 6 months.

So, how much time do you have to put into Python before you've mastered
*every* aspect of the language?  I do mean "every."  Less than a year?  6
months?  3 months?  Be honest.

> indeed between a whole nation's impoverishment and enrichment.

I hate to break it to you, but gratuitous complexity *maintains*
relationships of power.  Consider lawyers, for instance.  On the open
market, my C++ skills are worth more money to more people than your Python
skills.  It's going to be quite some time before that picture changes.

--
Cheers,                         www.3DProgrammer.com
Brandon Van Every               Seattle, WA

20% of the world is real.
80% is gobbledygook we make up inside our own heads.