Python

A Unix-born scripting language, similar to Perl. Though it features a green reptile as an icon, the name is derived from the Monty Pythons, not the animal.

It is stricter than Perl and derives its structure solely from indentation, not semicolons or brackets. I lost interest when I downloaded Grail, a web browser written completely in Python, and found I could not run it because it was written for a slightly earlier version of Python than the one I had installed.

Python Language Website
Non-Programmers Tutorial for Python
Instant Hacking: Learn how to program with Python
Instant Python
Why Python? Eric S. Raymond prefers it over Perl, except for very small tasks, mainly because of its high readability (2000-05-01):
Weeks and months after writing fetchmailconf, I could still read the fetchmailconf code and grok what it was doing without serious mental effort. And the true reason I no longer write Perl for anything but tiny projects is that was never true when I was writing large masses of Perl code. I fear the prospect of ever having to modify keeper or anthologize again--but fetchmailconf gives me no qualms at all.

Last modified 2004-07-28