Learning Python for a new beginner

[Piet]

Hi Lisa,
> I hear that Python is one of the easiest languages to learn. It is
> easier than PHP or Pearl?
Most people think so, though personal experiences can vary. I played
around wit hPerl for some time but never got really far. Python, on
the other hand, attracted me from the first minute.
Don´t be fooled: Learning and mastering Python requires work and
brains, but that is the price you have to pay anyways. It helps you to
develop at your personal pace from beginner to advanced, and it does
so without throwing completely new constructs in your brain every day.
It comes bundled with some built-in tools for writing, editing and
running programs, good and user-friendly documentation (which appears
to be better organized than Perl´s doc), and a lot of built-in
functions to handle data structures and files in an easily tractable,
easily remembered way. By learning Python, you will also learn some
advanced concepts (if you want) that could help you to understand the
basics of more advanced languages like C++ and Java. Combine that with
fine community support and a lot of free third-party modules (you
won´t need all of them on your first day, but it is nice to know that
they are out there), and I would say that you have all you need in the
best way you can get to start your programming career.


BW
Piet