First practical Python code, comments appreciated

[planetthoughtful]

Thanks to both Steve and Paul!

I actually come from a PHP background, and I'm learning Python, oddly
enough, as a result of recently purchasing a USB Flash Drive, and
through wanting to be able to carry a portable programming language on
the drive so that I have the capability of developing / using useful
code wherever I happen to be (I'm actually using Movable Python
http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/movpy/ - I hope it's not lacking in
any fundamental way).

To be honest, I could have achieved the same result more gracefully in
PHP (and I know that will cause some eyebrows to arch over the
suggestion that anything can be done gracefully in PHP), but that's
simply because I'm very comfortable with its syntax and with writing
economical code in it, not because it's actually well-suited to that
type of task.

I'm already working through Dive Into Python, which seems to be a good
starting place. Thankfully, I'm comfortable with OO concepts, at least
in how they are expressed in PHP5, so I'm not entirely lost in
unfamiliar territory with those aspects of Python.

My big learning curve will come, I suspect, when I move into creating
GUI apps with Python and wxPython, since that's my end goal - to be
able to carry several self-developed applications on my Flash Drive
that aren't dependent on any resources not found on the Flash Drive.

But, you have to learn to crawl before you can learn to code, so
approaching basic tasks like the one in my first attempt at a practical
application of Python are a good way to begin.

Thanks to both for your comments and advice!

Much warmth,

planetthoughtful