[ Thanks to Jeff Alami
for this link. ]
“This tutorial is the first in a series that will introduce you
to Python, a dynamic, object-oriented language that is rapidly
gaining popularity. Since I myself have garnered a modest Perl
background before learning Python, I will target this tutorial at
the Perl programmer. However, anyone with a little programming
experience should find this text useful….“
“Some time in the 80s, Guido van Rossum, Python’s lead
developer, co-authored a programming language called ABC, geared
toward teaching programming concepts. ABC, while never really
becoming very popular, was overhauled in its entirety, and became
the proud father of Python. One of Python’s core principles was and
still is simplicity and elegance. More than 10 years later, Python
has retained its elegance, and has only grown in features and
popularity.”
“…and, yes, Python was indeed named after Monty Python.”
“So what is Python, anyway? Python is every one of these things:
interpreted, dynamic (loosely typed), object-oriented, portable,
clean, elegant, easy to learn, powerful, embeddable, extendable,
freely available, actively developed, and widely used. Because of
its simplicity and clean syntax, Python makes an excellent first
language. And because of its incredibly diverse library of modules,
it is an excellent language for experienced developers. Python is
suitable for small projects, and scales beautifully for very large
projects.”