Python is fun and useful (was: Python is fun (useless social thread) ; -))

[Cameron Laird]

In article <mailman.7086.1150386376.27775.python-list at python.org>,
Carl Trachte <janencarl at aznex.net> wrote:
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>Yes.  I was a production geologist in a copper mine in the mid 90's.  Our
>mine planning software vendor Mintec (www.mintec.com) had chosen it as
>their API for programmatic access to the three dimensional geologic block
>model and two dimensional polygons that defined geologic shapes on a level
>bench or in vertical cross section.
>
>>
>> Or did you just like what you saw and decided to learn it for fun?
>
>That too.  I had been using Visual Basic.  For what I was doing (mine
>engineering), there was just a lot more functionality available in Python
>and its external modules (numeric, for example).  Organizing a lot of
>engineering data dumped as text is easier in Python than it is in VB
>(IMO), because of the way Python handles lists and dictionaries.
>
>>
>> Also, how did you go about learning it? (i.e., like I described above, I
>started with the main stuff then moved on to the different available
>frameworks)
>
>I started with Mintec's mine planning software API, then realized that a
>lot of stuff was easier in Python.  VB was great for making GUI's quickly.
> Python (Tkinter) is harder because you have to code your windows
>(although once I got over that initial hump, it got a lot easier - there's
>decent documentation for Tkinter on the web, and it doesn't cost a
>thing!).
>
>My employer was good enough to send me to M. Lutz' 3 day course on Python
>in Colorado.  This was helpful.  Up until that time I had been coding VB
>in Python (a lot of it was "translating" code from one language to the
>other).  After that course I started to think in Python and make better
>use of the features Python had (OO, exception handling, etc.).
>
>>
>> Was there any necessity in the specifics you learned, or did you just
>dabble in something (e.g. wxPython) for fun?
>
>As I mentioned with the Tkinter example above, there was almost always
>necessity.  Fortunately the stuff we do necessitates a lot of different
>language features and modules.  The datetime module was something I didn't
>know about until I bought the latest version of the Python cookbook.  The
>thing is a huge productivity boost, especially for the stuff I do
>(daily/monthly/yearly production reports).
>
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>> Are there still some things you feel you need to learn or improve?
>
>Always.  Always.  Always.  Extending to Fortran and C are things I'd like
>to accomplish.  There is a lot of old, but useful Fortran code around.  If
>you can marry it with Python instead of trying to rewrite it, that's a lot
>of coding time (and money) saved.  There are accounts of this sort of
>thing out on the web, but I'm yet to accomplish it myself.  Langtangen's
>scientific Python book offers a start.  I've got a copy and have read
>through it, but I've got to work on some real examples before I have any
>success with it.  I'm not there yet.
>
>>
>> Additional comments/complains here:   :)
>
>Life's too short to use and enjoy everything Python's got to offer. :-)
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Indeed.

Your testimony deserves particular attention, I think, because
I believe the applicability of Python and related techniques to
process control, engineering programming, and so on, is vastly
under-appreciated.  Conventional wisdom in these domains sees
Visual Basic, Visual C++, and Fortran as suitable vehicles.
You've seen how limiting this is.

For reasons that I can elaborate at more length later, I'd love
to diffuse awareness of Python's potential in mining and other
"real-world" industries.  The Agile Control Forum <URL:
http://www.engcorp.com/acf/RecentChanges > is made for just
such purposes.  Although it's been rather quiet recently, that
might change soon.  It'd be great to have you tell your story
in the ACF Wiki.