Need Help Starting Out

[rodmc]

> Hi, I would like to start using Python, but am unsure where to begin.
> I know how to look up a tutorial and learn the language, but not what
> all technologies to use.  I saw references to plain Python, Django,
> and other things.

Hi,

For database stuff you can plug directly into either MySQL or SQLite.
For MySQL you need to install a third party library which you can get
from:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/mysql-python

I think SQLite support is now included in Python 2.5, all you need to
do is type "import sqlite3", and away it goes. You will of course need
to install SQLite, just search for it online. I found SQlite more than
sufficient for any single user non-web based apps. On the client side
you can use these library and if you like build a free standing app to
run everything.

For GUI toolkits you can do worse than download and install wxPython,
which again is free (www.wxpython.org). If you want to dabble in games
programming there is also PyGame.

If you want to build free standing applications you can use Py2Exe
(Windows) and Py2App (Mac), just Google them and they will appear. You
may at times find Python a little slow, and you can even get round
that problem in Windows and Intel based Macs by using Psyco (again
just Google). It can speed up your code by quite a large margin.

Hope these help you get started...

Rod