Had Phyton suggested

[Paul Prescod]

Steve Horsley wrote:

>...
> 
> At the risk of making a lot of python fans angry, I would also suggest 
> that you look at java.  This IS a compiled language (although ironically,
> the compiled bytecode is interpreted). 

Python and Java both compile to byte-code. The only difference is that 
Python does it automatically whereas Java requires you to compile manually.

I suggest this for a few reasons:
> * You cannot really avoid thinking in an object-oriented way when 
> writing java. I suspect that python will allow you to develop some very 
> nasyt habits.

I disagree that the opposite of object orientation is "nasty habits." 
Forcing every problem into an object oriented paradigm is itself a nasty 
  (and ultimately confusing) habit.

> * The java tutorial is massive, and has loads of examples.

Is it more massive than these:

	* http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/thinkCSpy/
	* http://diveintopython.org/
	* http://www.mindview.net/Books/TIPython
	* http://www.python.org/doc/current/tut/tut.html
	* http://honors.montana.edu/~jjc/easytut/easytut/

And this one is specifically about game programming:

	* http://pygame.org/docs/tut/chimp/ChimpLineByLine.html

> * I have not seen anything like BlueJ for python. BlueJ is an excellent 
> beginners IDE with editor, debugger, and a UML-like diagram that shows 
> how your classes interconnect.

I haven't tried BlueJ so I can't compare but I don't think an IDE could 
make up for Java's flaws as a learning language. "Hello world" in Java 
is 7 lines compared to 1 in Python. The Python version has just two 
concepts: printing and strings. The Java version brings in three 
keywords (class, public, static) a module, an object, a function, two 
types, etc.

> Better, learn a little of both languages.

Can't disagree with that. Learn Python. Learn Pygame. Write your game. 
Then learn Java to have something good to put on your resume.

  Paul Prescod