Is python for me?

[lennart]

Hi,

I'm planning to learn a language for 'client' software. Until now, i
'speak' only some web based languages, like php. As a kid i programmed
in Basic (CP/M, good old days :'-) ) Now i want to start to learn a
(for me) new computer language.

I like Python. Its free, easy to learn and some favorite programs of my
are written in Python / can understand Python (like OpenOffice) etc.

But I'm not a full-time programmer. I know, that I've only time &
possibility to learn one (= 1) language good. So i ask myself is python
the language I'm looking for?

In the future, i want to write the following applications:[*] A database driven program, which can handle my clients, tasks and
places (= 3 tables, has to work relative with each other). I think,
this isn't a problem for Python[*] As a photographer i like to build a picture management system (also
db) with raw support. Raw is the raw-data from the sensor of the
camera. My questions:
- can python encode raw?
- can python head for a utility like dcraw?
- or head for a utility like IrfanView (delphi?) or something like
that?

Tnx for your help!

[Cameron Laird]

Re: Is python for me?

In article <1163437873.721 254.31070@b28g2 000cwb.googlegr oups.com>,
lennart <l.m.aangeenbru g@gmail.comwrot e:

>Hi,
>
>I'm planning to learn a language for 'client' software. Until now, i
>'speak' only some web based languages, like php. As a kid i programmed
>in Basic (CP/M, good old days :'-) ) Now i want to start to learn a
>(for me) new computer language.
>
>I like Python. Its free, easy to learn and some favorite programs of my
>are written in Python / can understand Python (like OpenOffice) etc.
>
>But I'm not a full-time programmer. I know, that I've only time &
>possibility to learn one (= 1) language good. So i ask myself is python
>the language I'm looking for?
>
>In the future, i want to write the following applications:
>[*] A database driven program, which can handle my clients, tasks and
>places (= 3 tables, has to work relative with each other). I think,
>this isn't a problem for Python
>[*] As a photographer i like to build a picture management system (also
>db) with raw support. Raw is the raw-data from the sensor of the
>camera. My questions:
>- can python encode raw?
>- can python head for a utility like dcraw?
>- or head for a utility like IrfanView (delphi?) or something like
>that?

[dakman@gmail.com]

Re: Is python for me?

As stated above python is capable of all those things, however on
larger applications like that it can tend to slow down a bit. And the
executables do need a little bit of work, because it's bassicly a dll
and a library of all your .pyc files. However python is still a great
language and I would recomend it. And most of these things will
probably be fixed in Python 3000!
Cameron Laird wrote:

In article <1163437873.721 254.31070@b28g2 000cwb.googlegr oups.com>,
lennart <l.m.aangeenbru g@gmail.comwrot e:

Hi,

I'm planning to learn a language for 'client' software. Until now, i
'speak' only some web based languages, like php. As a kid i programmed
in Basic (CP/M, good old days :'-) ) Now i want to start to learn a
(for me) new computer language.

I like Python. Its free, easy to learn and some favorite programs of my
are written in Python / can understand Python (like OpenOffice) etc.

But I'm not a full-time programmer. I know, that I've only time &
possibility to learn one (= 1) language good. So i ask myself is python
the language I'm looking for?

In the future, i want to write the following applications:[*] A database driven program, which can handle my clients, tasks and
places (= 3 tables, has to work relative with each other). I think,
this isn't a problem for Python[*] As a photographer i like to build a picture management system (also
db) with raw support. Raw is the raw-data from the sensor of the
camera. My questions:
- can python encode raw?
- can python head for a utility like dcraw?
- or head for a utility like IrfanView (delphi?) or something like
that?

.
.
.
Yes.
>
Yes, Python is generally capable in all the roles you describe.
Perhaps most exciting, though, is that you can try out the
language yourself, TODAY, over the next few hours, and, in no
more time than that, get a realistic if limited idea how it's
likely to work for you. With the right introduction <URL:
http://docs.python.org/tut/ you can be coding usefully in
Python very quickly.

[Dan Lenski]

Re: Is python for me?

lennart wrote:

But I'm not a full-time programmer. I know, that I've only time &
possibility to learn one (= 1) language good. So i ask myself is python
the language I'm looking for?

Yep! Python is very much a jack-of-all-trades language. I've used it
for similar tasks, including as a front-end for dcraw (I have a little
python script to slurp images from a camera with dcraw and convert them
all to JPEG).

Python has excellent libraries for image manipulation (for example
Python Imaging Library) and for abstracting an SQL database to an
object-oriented form that makes it a snap to work with (I love
SQLAlchemy).

You can learn Python really fast, and it sort of guides you in the
right direction by providing a correct way to do almost everything
without constraining you, so that your code will be consistent and
readable. This, in my opinion, is Python's chief advantage over Perl,
which is the other highly popular dynamic jack-of-all-trades language.
I learned Perl about 10 years ago and loved it for a while, but it's
messy as heck and I find my own code from a few months ago nearly
unreadable... I also spend a lot more time debugging Perl code because
there are so many error-prone things that are silenty allowed rather
than flagged as errors.

I've been using Python for several months and it's just great for
everything. I think it's an ideal first or only programming language!
I've had no reason to write a program in anything else since learning
Python, and I write a LOT of little throwaway programs.

Dan

[Carsten Haese]

Re: Is python for me?

On Mon, 2006-11-13 at 10:14 -0800, Dan Lenski wrote:

lennart wrote:

So i ask myself is python the language I'm looking for?

>
Yep! Python is very much a jack-of-all-trades language.

I'll run the risk of being nitpicky, but the full phrase is "Jack of all
trades, master of none," which doesn't do Python justice. Python is a
master of all trades!

But I agree with Dan's sentiment, Python is definitely the language
you're looking for.

-Carsten.

[lennart]

Re: Is python for me?


Carsten Haese schreef:

On Mon, 2006-11-13 at 10:14 -0800, Dan Lenski wrote:

lennart wrote:

So i ask myself is python the language I'm looking for?

Yep! Python is very much a jack-of-all-trades language.

>
I'll run the risk of being nitpicky, but the full phrase is "Jack of all
trades, master of none," which doesn't do Python justice. Python is a
master of all trades!
>
But I agree with Dan's sentiment, Python is definitely the language
you're looking for.
>
-Carsten.

Tnx everyone for your response! It's just for me a big step to learn a
new language. Not because of the difficulty, but because of the time
and so.

Later, i remembered that Gimp can also work with python (scripts). So,
even for my second wish, there will be somewhere, somehow a way to do
it.

At least: i use the dutch portal http://python.startpagina.nl/ to start
with. Can you advice me a good Python interpreter, or a good startpage
(as in Python for dummys)?

Lennart

[lennart]

Re: Is python for me?


dakman@gmail.co m schreef:

As stated above python is capable of all those things, however on
larger applications like that it can tend to slow down a bit. And the
executables do need a little bit of work, because it's bassicly a dll
and a library of all your .pyc files. However python is still a great
language and I would recomend it. And most of these things will
probably be fixed in Python 3000!

>>
><<snip>>
Python very quickly.

Can you define 'large'? Is that large in code, or large in database? I
don't know which database is supported. If its a external db, like
MySql, the query is performed through the software of MySql, am I
right? If I'm correct, the 'slowness' comes from the amount of code in
python itself, not from the database.

[Stephen Eilert]

Re: Is python for me?


Not to be picky, but any slowness in software is rarely because of code
size. Rather, it is the data size and algorithms that play the major
role. Only after you got the first two right is that you should worry
about implementation speed.

That said, you are correct. Only if you intend to do *heavy* processing
of the returned data, your major bottleneck should be the database.

*If* you find Python to be slow(for some specific operation, never for
a whole application), you could always rewrite that section using
another language (C/C++ come to mind), or call external libraries to do
the heavy-lifting. The easy integration between Python and C (compared
to a couple other popular platforms) is what drove me to Python.

Make it work first. Then optimize. And Python helps both.


Stephen

lennart escreveu:

dakman@gmail.co m schreef:
>

As stated above python is capable of all those things, however on
larger applications like that it can tend to slow down a bit. And the
executables do need a little bit of work, because it's bassicly a dll
and a library of all your .pyc files. However python is still a great
language and I would recomend it. And most of these things will
probably be fixed in Python 3000!

>
<<snip>>
Python very quickly.

>
Can you define 'large'? Is that large in code, or large in database? I
don't know which database is supported. If its a external db, like
MySql, the query is performed through the software of MySql, am I
right? If I'm correct, the 'slowness' comes from the amount of code in
python itself, not from the database.

[Cameron Laird]

Re: Is python for me?

In article <1163447345.986 774.289950@h54g 2000cwb.googleg roups.com>,
lennart <l.m.aangeenbru g@gmail.comwrot e:

[jkn]

Re: Is python for me?

Hi Carsten

>
I'll run the risk of being nitpicky, but the full phrase is "Jack of all
trades, master of none," which doesn't do Python justice. Python is a
master of all trades!
>

FYI that's only *one* version of 'the full phrase'. I, for instance, am
a 'Jack of all trades, master of many'. I regard Python in the same
light ;-).

jon N

[TiNo]

Re: Is python for me?

>

At least: i use the dutch portal http://python.startpagina.nl/ to start
with. Can you advice me a good Python interpreter, or a good startpage
(as in Python for dummys)?
>
Lennart
>
--

http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list

>

check http://www.diveintopython.org/
pretty good book on all the basics, and it's freely available online.
for interpreters, try out SPE http://stani.be/python/spe/blog/ , it is
free, and has some nice features.
And see: http://spyced.blogspot.com/2006/02/p...de-review.html
for a comparison of 4 ide's (including SPE)

[Dan Lenski]

Re: Is python for me?


Carsten Haese wrote:

On Mon, 2006-11-13 at 10:14 -0800, Dan Lenski wrote:

lennart wrote:

So i ask myself is python the language I'm looking for?

Yep! Python is very much a jack-of-all-trades language.

>
I'll run the risk of being nitpicky, but the full phrase is "Jack of all
trades, master of none," which doesn't do Python justice. Python is a
master of all trades!

Indeed! That's why I left out the "master of none" prt :-) For me,
Python is "jack of all trades, master of everything I've thrown at it
so far."

Dan

[SPE - Stani's Python Editor]

Re: Is python for me?

lennart schreef:

[*] As a photographer i like to build a picture management system

Cornice, a cross-platform image viewer, might be a good start.

Features
Here is a list of the main features of Cornice:

* Fully cross-platform: it should run wherever wxPython does;
* Detail and thumbnail view for images;
* Image preview;
* Automatic recognition of images, with a variety of formats
supported;
* Bookmarks;
* Full-screen view;
* Zooming and rotation;
* Slideshow;
* Good keyboard navigation (still not perfect, but this is true for
all the features ;-);
* Image loading from zip archives;
* i18n support (with Italian and French translations available);
* EXIF data support;
* Some more...

For more info, take a look at

http://wxglade.sourceforge.net/extra/cornice.html

Stani

--

http://pythonide.stani.be

[Mark Woodward]

Re: Is python for me?

On Mon, 13 Nov 2006 09:11:13 -0800, lennart wrote:

Hi,
>
I'm planning to learn a language for 'client' software. Until now, i
'speak' only some web based languages, like php. As a kid i programmed
in Basic (CP/M, good old days :'-) ) Now i want to start to learn a
(for me) new computer language.
>
I like Python. Its free, easy to learn and some favorite programs of my
are written in Python / can understand Python (like OpenOffice) etc.
>
But I'm not a full-time programmer. I know, that I've only time &
possibility to learn one (= 1) language good. So i ask myself is python
the language I'm looking for?

....

I've been hesitant to write this in the past but seems like a good time.

I'm at the same stage, but (and this is NOT a troll) I'm tossing up
between Python and Ruby. I know this has been discussed numerous times but
I'd like to come at it from a different angle.

I've been 'playing' with both languages and to be honest it's a case of 6
of one, half a dozen of the other. If I'm using python I 'think' python
and if I'm using Ruby I 'think' ruby (if that makes sense). Ie I don't
find I'm more productive in one over the other to any great extent (pretty
unproductive in both ATM to be honest ;-)) .

In the foreseeable future I suspect I'll stick with one and just use it
for things I personally will use/need. But (and here's where I finally get
to a question) I use Linux, I love the whole idea of open source and
contributing in some way. So if I ever get to the stage where I can give
something back is one preferred over the other? I would have thought no
but I read on the Ubuntu site somewhere that they prefer contributions
written in Python/ pyGTK?? Is this just a 'preference' or because python
is installed by default? (whereas Ruby isn't)? Is it just Ubuntu or Linux
distros in general?

I hope you can see where I'm coming from here. I don't want to start a
Python/Ruby flame war. That's not the question. The question is "is one
preferred over the other when contributing software and is this just a
particular distros preference"?


cheers,


--
Mark

[Steve Holden]

Re: Is python for me?

Mark Woodward wrote:

On Mon, 13 Nov 2006 09:11:13 -0800, lennart wrote:
>

>Hi,
>>
>I'm planning to learn a language for 'client' software. Until now, i
>'speak' only some web based languages, like php. As a kid i programmed
>in Basic (CP/M, good old days :'-) ) Now i want to start to learn a
>(for me) new computer language.
>>
>I like Python. Its free, easy to learn and some favorite programs of my
>are written in Python / can understand Python (like OpenOffice) etc.
>>
>But I'm not a full-time programmer. I know, that I've only time &
>possibility to learn one (= 1) language good. So i ask myself is python
>the language I'm looking for?

....
>
I've been hesitant to write this in the past but seems like a good time.
>
I'm at the same stage, but (and this is NOT a troll) I'm tossing up
between Python and Ruby. I know this has been discussed numerous times but
I'd like to come at it from a different angle.
>
I've been 'playing' with both languages and to be honest it's a case of 6
of one, half a dozen of the other. If I'm using python I 'think' python
and if I'm using Ruby I 'think' ruby (if that makes sense). Ie I don't
find I'm more productive in one over the other to any great extent (pretty
unproductive in both ATM to be honest ;-)) .
>
In the foreseeable future I suspect I'll stick with one and just use it
for things I personally will use/need. But (and here's where I finally get
to a question) I use Linux, I love the whole idea of open source and
contributing in some way. So if I ever get to the stage where I can give
something back is one preferred over the other? I would have thought no
but I read on the Ubuntu site somewhere that they prefer contributions
written in Python/ pyGTK?? Is this just a 'preference' or because python
is installed by default? (whereas Ruby isn't)? Is it just Ubuntu or Linux
distros in general?
>
I hope you can see where I'm coming from here. I don't want to start a
Python/Ruby flame war. That's not the question. The question is "is one
preferred over the other when contributing software and is this just a
particular distros preference"?
>

Ubuntu is pretty much a Python-oriented distribution. A lot of people
like it because you always get a fairly up-to-date Python with lots of
extras available.

I don't know that much about Ruby, but the best approach to software
development has always been to choose the best language for solving the
problem, so you seem to be doing OK.

regards
Steve
--
Steve Holden +44 150 684 7255 +1 800 494 3119
Holden Web LLC/Ltd http://www.holdenweb.com
Skype: holdenweb http://holdenweb.blogspot.com
Recent Ramblings http://del.icio.us/steve.holden