Where is Python in the scheme of things?

[Carl Trachte]

I came from a VB/VBA environment before using Python.  My experience has
been that Python has a lot more free, pre-coded tools within its community
to do the sort of things I do in my job (geometric algorithms, date-time
functions, processing and accessing lists of items, scientific programming,
etc., etc.).  The main strength of VB6 was its ease in dragging and dropping
stuff to make a graphical user interface (GUI).  The main strength of VBA is
that a lot of people know it and it interfaces with the Excel spreadsheet
software nicely (except when Windows is acting up, but that's another
story).  Tkinker took some getting used to.  I've dabbled with wxPython a
bit.  After an initial learning curve, the tools aren't that hard to use,
and they both have modules for pre-made widgets (window items) like PMW for
Tkinter.

The module system, I find, is almost always a step up from dealing with
VB/VBA's DLL's.  "DLL hell" is real, especially for someone coming into a
programming environment for the first time.

My last point is a bit controversial.  You will get smarter faster and
cheaper in the Python community.  It's not that there aren't smart people in
the (classic) VB community.  It's just that there are a lot of people in
that community that never programmed in any other language, people that
think that learning a Unix based system is too much to ask from an employer,
people that believe that the GUI is the quality center and most critical
part of the program, and that the backend is an afterthought.  I wish I were
being cynical or exaggerating, but I'm not.  Hanging out around the Python
community will make you a better VB, dotNet (C#), or C++ programmer, even if
you go with one of those as your language of choice.

My 2 cents.

Carl Trachte

"gord" <gord at no_spaming.com> wrote in message
news:I4GdnY3G96ZZirnYnZ2dnUVZ_uidnZ2d at magma.ca...
> As a complete novice in the study of Python, I am asking myself where this
> language is superior or better suited than others. For example, all I see
in
> the tutorials are lots of examples of list processing, arithmetic
> calculations - all in a DOS-like environment.
>
> What is particularly disappointing is the absence of a Windows IDE,
> components and an event driven paradigm. How does Python stand relative to
> the big 3, namely Visual C++, Visual Basic and Delphi? I realize that
these
> programming packages are quite expensive now while Python is free (at
least
> for the package I am using - ActivePython).
>
> Please discuss where Python shines.
> Gord
>
>