Anyone familiar/proficient with Python?

Off-topic
1

Hi all,

I’ve decided I wanted to try my hand at programming a little bit, and I’ve chosen to learn the Python language, mainly because Blender3D utilizes it for the game engine and certain rendering plugins. I just want to know if there’s anyone on here that I could PM at any time and ask for some help if I get stuck on a certain concept. I don’t actually have a question right now (though any general advice would be well-appreciated), I’d just like to know if there’s anyone on the forums I could turn to should one arise.

Thanks!
-Matt

2

I’m no expert with it but I do know it.

3

Alright, thanks for the reply Brian. I’m currently using this tutorial, and after I finish I’ll probably try my hand at my own very basic program, and I hope you don’t mind if I ask for any help along the way. :slight_smile:

4

Yah, I’ve worked with it a fair bit. Not to say that my code is as neat / simple as a python whiz could do :wink: but I have done some moderately complex things with it.

5

Alright I already have a question…IDLE keeps not opening for me…says it can’t complete a subprocess or something, won’t let me run anything in idle. How do I run a program in python using the command line?

6

Evilnick is our resident *nix guru; I’d ask him if I were you.

Python is not exactly my language of choice, but I do know a bit about it. Feel free to PM me if you ever need help with C+/++ or Java, though.

EDIT: Download TextPad. It ought to help you out a bit. I prefer it over other IDEs.

7

I only see .exe’s available. What about vim on your unixshell, does indenting and coloring to (still I use pico, ee and very sometimes vi).

8

I’m curious if you’re doing Python on Windows or if you’re using Linux?

Python has been on my todo list to learn or investigate. Curious to see how it would work for scripting type applications in Windows. Quick and dirty little programs to manipulate text files and do other little tasks. Haven’t gotten around to looking at Python yet though.

9

Python is excellent for that, you can do all sorts of actions like that with very little code.

10

That is a Most Excellent Thing To Do! I’m even tempted to use the “A” word, but harper might be listening.

I don’t know anything about Python. Why don’t you post your questions and experiences here regarding Python and programming in general? I would be interested in “listening in” and helping out if I could.

11

I took a quick look at the Python documentation and some of the tutorials. The file handling and string handling looks good and not too verbose. Regular expression support makes that all handy too. Even has support for operating on the Windows Registry. Looks good for quick and dirty little tools.

I’ve used Perl for text processing on files but never liked it. It got the job done but never felt good and the code looked ugly.

I’ve been using small C# programs for some tools. But C# (and .NET) doesn’t have an interpretive or interactive mode so is not so handy for quick little things.

Python looks to have the good stuff and code that is mostly clear.

It will be worth a deeper look once I get time.

12

I wish that I could use something good like python at my work… stupid VB6.

Euch.

13

Ouch, what are they having you still work on with VB6?

14

Well I mostly do work with SQL. One part of that is doing DTS packages (Data Transformation Services). Unfortunately, if I have to do any coding in that… its in VB6.

More and more of our clients are starting to use SQL 2005, so I get to work with SSIS then (the new version of DTS). Thankfully, it uses .NET, so I can go back into my lovely C#.

15

I’m no expert in python, but I know this and that about different programming languages and I was quite interested in ehrm… let’s call it computer linguistics :slight_smile:

Nevertheless I wanted to encourage you a bit: you’ve made quite a good
choice (another good one could be ruby) mostly because python is easy to
learn and it’s quite modern language with nice features.
Go for it, dude!

16

What OS are you learning in? And are you running your program from the interpreter, or from the command line (if you’re using a *nix like OSX/Linux/BSD)? Python is a good choice for learning, not only because it’s powerful, but also because it forces you to indent your code which really helps readability. Besides, once you learn the basics of coding (loops, conditions, etc) switching to another language is just learning grammar. :smiley:

17

I’m on Vista right now, and I’m using this interpreter called IDLE that came with the install, though it’s sometimes a bit flaky.

18

Hi, Nick. (we met at Joe Merrill’s MUni weekend)

I never indent. In fact, it takes out my indentation if I try to put it in. What should I do? Here is a code sample of what I’m talking about…

10 PRINT "NAME? ";
20 INPUT N$
30 PRINT N$; " IS AWESOME!"
40 GOTO 30

I mostly agree with your comment that learning a new language is largely learning the new grammar and syntax. But some languages (FORTH, object-oriented languages, and non-procedural languages) require you to think differently. Python is probably a great language to start with. It will allow Matt to get a lot done without a lot of headache. And leave the door wide open for learning a whole host of languages.

19

Dave, is that python? I haven’t learned those shortcuts…the tutorial I was doing would have me type:

print "Name?"
n = raw_input(" ")
print n, "is awesome!"
20

Sorry, it was a joke (that Nick would get). The language is ancient BASIC. You can tell it’s an old dialect of the language because of the line numbers. My example code is something you would write as a first program on your home computer 25 years ago (like on a VIC 20 or an Apple II or a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A or a TRS-80). I should have labeled it as a joke for all the people who wouldn’t recognize the language. Oops. :slight_smile:

Anyway, my program prints the same line forever. Can you add an infinite loop around the print line? Also, you need a space before the word “is” in the string, otherwise it gets mashed against the name (like: Alexis awesome). Nice job reading a language that (I assume) you never saw before and writing (almost) the equivalent in Python.