Posted by Dave Ponting on 2000-10-23
On Mon, 23 Oct 2000, najohns wrote:
> I just started trying to learn programming maybe a week ago. I read that
> python is a good one to try to learn on. The problem I am having is the only
> thing I can almost figure out how to do is the GUI and I can't do more than
> just input a few lines and get a readout. I found some codes but I can see no
> way to make them run as programs, am I just missing something?
Python is indeed a good language to start out on. However, it is slightly
different from languages such as C or Pascal etc, in that Python code is
executed a a script. I.e. you don't write a program, compile it and then
have an executable proram to run. With Python, you write all the code in a
file (or several files), and then pass these to the python interpreter to
execute. At first this can be quite daunting, but I have seen several very
successful spplications written with python such as a windowmanager (unix
GUI), and a financial application. It is also very useful for
CGI/web-based applications. You can find plenty of example code, as well
as tutorials and documentation, if you have a look around the python
website (www.python.org). If you feel you would prefer a more traditional
programming language, where you can write a program, and compile it to a
binary file, then i would suggest pascal as a starting point. Pascal is no
more difficult to learn than basic, but the coding style will help you
make the transition to more advanced languages such as C/C++ or Java.
Anyway, good luck and happy coding,
-Dave Ponting <pontingdavid@xxx.xxx>
"If ignorance is bliss, why aren't -o)
there more happy people?" /\
-Anon _\_v
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