Re: Digest for pydy@googlegroups.com - 2 Messages in 1 Topic

[Luke]

Roy,
I agree with what Thomas says about the tutorials. The official
Python tutorial and then the dive into python are where I would start.
With regards to which version of Python, just make sure you stick
with 2.5.x or 2.6.x for now (NumPy and Scipy don't yet work with
Python 3.x). EPD is one option, another is PythonXY, which I
personally had very good luck with when I was running Windows. I
would personally recommend PythonXY, I just looked at their package
list and all the packages are newer and seem a bit more frequently
updated that EPD. It uses Python 2.6.2.

If you want to buy a book, I would recommend Learning Python.

~Luke

On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 11:22 AM, <py...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>   Today's Topic Summary
>
> Group: http://groups.google.com/group/pydy/topics
>
> Great collection of papers [2 Updates]
>
>  Topic: Great collection of papers
>
> Roy <brewe...@gmail.com> Nov 25 04:58AM -0800
>
> Thanks Luke, and Ondrej.
>
> I will have lots of questions. The only thing I know about Python is
> that it was named for Monty Python. I want to learn the language
> anyway, for another project.
>
> Which version of Python do I need? Can you recommend a good reference,
> either on-line or a book? I do know C, if that helps.
>
> - Roy
>
>
>
>
> Thomas Johnston <trjoh...@gmail.com> Nov 25 08:35AM -0800
>
> Roy,
>
> Without knowing anything about what you want to do with python, I might
> suggest installing the Enthought distribution. They have a 32-bit
> "academic" version available for many platforms that can be downloaded for
> free (it's what I use):
>
> http://www.enthought.com/products/edudownload.php
>
> I think this is a pretty good way to get your feet wet because: (A) the
> enthought diistribution has a fairly complete set of packages for those
> interested in scientific calculations and (B) it makes installation pretty
> easy.
>
> I think your knowledge of C programming will be of great benefit. First,
> you already understand the fundamentals of programming. Second, python
> utilizes many C libraries. Third, I think you will appreciate how Python, in
> many cases, makes it easier to write code as compared to C.
>
> There are plenty of good resources to help you get started. Here are just a
> few freely available tutorials/ebooks:
>
> http://www.diveintopython.org/
> http://www.tramy.us/numpybook.pdf
> http://docs.python.org/tutorial/
> http://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide/Programmers
>
> Of course, it possible to obtain most other books via bittorrent or
> rapidshare.
>
> I might suggest coding something in python that you already have in C. It's
> a good way to see the differences between the languages and will force you
> to learn the components of the language that are of most use to you first.
>
> Just my two cents,
>
> Thomas
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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[Roy]

PythonXY seems a good fit for me. I prefer to use free/open source
where possible. Also, the project for which I wanted to learn Python
was a groundstation GUI for a flying vehicle. I also wanted to learn
Qt for that project, so PythonXY seems perfect.

Thanks!
Roy

On Nov 25, 7:30 pm, Luke <hazelnu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Roy,
>   I agree with what Thomas says about the tutorials.  The official
> Python tutorial and then the dive into python are where I would start.
>  With regards to which version of Python, just make sure you stick
> with 2.5.x or 2.6.x for now (NumPy and Scipy don't yet work with
> Python 3.x).  EPD is one option, another is PythonXY, which I
> personally had very good luck with when I was running Windows.  I
> would personally recommend PythonXY, I just looked at their package
> list and all the packages are newer and seem a bit more frequently
> updated that EPD.  It uses Python 2.6.2.
>
> If you want to buy a book, I would recommend Learning Python.
>
> ~Luke
>
> On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 11:22 AM,  <py...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
> >   Today's Topic Summary
>
> > Group:http://groups.google.com/group/pydy/topics
>
> > Great collection of papers [2 Updates]
>
> >  Topic: Great collection of papers
>

> > Roy <brewer....@gmail.com> Nov 25 04:58AM -0800

>
> > Thanks Luke, and Ondrej.
>
> > I will have lots of questions. The only thing I know about Python is
> > that it was named for Monty Python. I want to learn the language
> > anyway, for another project.
>
> > Which version of Python do I need? Can you recommend a good reference,
> > either on-line or a book? I do know C, if that helps.
>
> > - Roy
>

> > Thomas Johnston <trjohns...@gmail.com> Nov 25 08:35AM -0800