a different question: can you earn a living with *just* python?

[sjdevnull at yahoo.com]

John Salerno wrote:
> It's a nice thought that a person can earn a living programming with
> Python, which is fun enough to use just for its own sake. But for
> someone like me (i.e. no programming experience) it's always a little
> disheartening to see that most (if not all) job descriptions that ask
> for Python still require some C/C++ or other language knowledge. I
> suppose this isn't an issue if you studied CS in college, because you
> would have been exposed to many languages.

There are two seperate issues here.  My current job requires only
Python, unless you classify SQL as a programming language.  My previous
couple of jobs I used a mix of Python and C.

I don't think it's easy (perhaps impossible) to become a good
programmer without exposure to multiple kinds of languages.  If you're
really trying to become a well-rounded computer professional I'd
recommend reasonable exposure to at least:

* C
* A static functional language (ML, Haskell, etc)
* Lisp or scheme Scheme
* A static class-oriented language (Java, C++, etc)
* A dynamic OO language (Python, ruby, smalltalk, etc)

and at least a brief look at, say, Forth and Prolog.

Even though you may not ever use, say, ML and lisp in your work, IMO
you'll likely be a much better programmer at work if you've learned C,
Lisp, ML, Java, and Python than if you've learned C, C++, Java, Python,
Ruby, and VB.  And you'll have a much easier time learning new
languages if you've learned an array of different ones than if you've
been focused in on a couple of kinds of languages.