Learning Python and LaTeX

[Andrew Weisman]

Hey guys,

I know there are many resources for learning Python out there...what
is your favorite, succinct tutorial/guide?

I don't know LaTeX yet...ditto for this!

Thanks,
Andrew

[Ian Langmore]

I read through "Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist"
http://greenteapress.com/thinkpython/html/
It's a gentle introduction that assumes no knowledge of programming
(although you need to know something about installing the software and
getting it running). If you know a lot of programming, then I'd
recommend the official tutorial for version 2.6
http://docs.python.org/tutorial/index.html
I say version 2.6 since that version's help files are nicer than 2.5.
Then latest version of python is 3.0, but scipy works only with
2.5/2.6. Eventually you'll want to use scipy. First though teach
yourself some python. Also, get ipython (it's a nicer command-line
interface than the standard python one).

This brings up another question: Which distribution of
python/scipy/numpy should one get? I'm using Ubuntu and I just
downloaded everything from the package repositories (which forced me to
python2.5). I believe that if you're on a mac you should get the
Enthought distribution.

-Ian

--
- Ian

[Anil Raj]

macs already have Enthought's python 2.5 distribution on it (atleast mine did). You can use 'fink' to install python 2.6 and other packages like numpy/scipy/ipython etc.

Or you can also build from source (which is what I did on a cluster running redhat) - a bit less straightforward but if you're new to it, you'll learn a lot from the process.

There are also some great tutorial videos on python from the latest scipy conference (http://conference.scipy.org/) - will martin pointed this out to me.

-Anil

[Ian Langmore]

Also, if you're stuck with something or have questions, feel free to come by my office and ask.  I'm in Mudd 289.

-Ian

-- 
- Ian

[Jake Hofman]

some additional python quick references:

http://docs.python.org/tutorial/index.html
http://software-carpentry.org/
http://www.physics.ucf.edu/~mdj/MinimalPython.html

-j

[Ian Langmore]

As for learning Latex, I forgot what tutorial I used at first (I always start with a tutorial).  Since then I mostly use the "Not so short introduction"
http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/lshort/english/lshort.pdf
as a reference.  One hard thing with latex can be just setting the thing up.  What you will do depends on your OS.  Also, if you use Vim then there are some nice packages to use.

-Ian

-- 
- Ian