dummy needs help with Python

[MLDSpenser at aol.com]

I am trying to find somebody who can give me a simple python program I can 
use to "program by analogy".  I just want to read two CSV files and match them 
on several fields, manipulate some of the fields, and write a couple of output 
files.
 
 
I come from 30 years of mainframe programming so I understand how computers 
work at a bits/bytes /machine language/ source vs.executable/reading core dumps 
level,  and I can program in a lot of languages most people using Python have 
never even heard of, but I don't know any of the modern jargon; the Python 
home site is full of statements that mean nothing to me.  I can't understand the 
descriptions of most of the software in the Python Package Index.  I can't 
even figure out most of the descriptions of the help available in the Python 
community, so sending this e-mail may be highly inappropriate.  Please forgive me 
if this is so, and take pity on a stranger in a strange land.  
 
I have done some Python programming in a module supplied by the author of 
software (Readerware) I bought; he takes care of all the file handling outside of 
the module he lets you mess with; I just manipulated selected fields he had 
defined.  It seems like a fantastic language but I need help.
 
My problem is that I want to do this all yesterday, and the Python text I 
bought is not easy to understand.
I don't have time to work my way through the online Python tutorial. I've 
tried a couple of forums but nobody has answered my questions.  A simple program 
with comments that say "here's where I read File A and define/map/ the fields 
in it" would let me learn by testing and trying things out, the same way I 
learned to work with the fields in the module.
 
 
Peace on earth to all people of good will.
 
Margie Spenser
Pittsburgh, PA
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/attachments/20081225/acd7d40e/attachment-0001.html>