[Tutor] Which programming language is better to start with

[Joel Ricker]

From: Sean 'Shaleh' Perry <shalehperry@attbi.com>
> python and perl are equal in their usefulness.  Both are good languages
with
> lots of great support both in the software and in people.  It really boils
down
> to which one feels right for you.  Obviously we all like python.  So we
are a
> little biased.  I learned perl first but never use it now.

I have to disagree on one point regarding perl, the people.  Trying to get a
little assistance with scripts when I was learning perl was like pulling
teeth.  From newsgroups to chat rooms to mailing lists, I got nothing but
terse responses and bad attitudes. I started to feel like they should change
the name of Perl to RTFM.

Then I tried Python.  I got immediate and toughtful responses from the
newsgroups from everyone, including the greats like Tim. After a time I
learned of this mailing list and migrated over and received even more help.
You won't see the any bad attitudes here.

For me, that was the difference.  Sold all of my perl books, deleted the
binaries off my machine, and never looked at perl again.  Even rewrote all
of my perl code. A great programming language and a great community is worth
a lot more to me and than a language with a poor community.  You won't find
any that are better (I haven't.)

Joel