Seeking PYTHON or Whatever Advice

Dennis said:
> George Gambill wrote:
>
>>I bought the book. I'm in the process of reading the book (the first
>> time).
>>
>>A while back, someone (on this list I think) made what I took to be
>> discouraging remarks about Python. Something about it being too noisy
>> or too wordy.
>>
>>
>>
> No matter what language you name, someone will probably make
> discouraging remarks about it.
>
> Python is a decent language. One thing some people don't like is that it
> uses indentation rather than {}. In my opinion this is one of those
> things you can easily get used to, if you put forth the effort.
>
> You can't go wrong with Python, Perl or Ruby. Go for it.

You can go wrong with any language if you abuse it. ;)

Python is great for application development. While I am biased, I didn't
rush to Python right away, in fact at first I HATED it.

Perl you can go very wrong with. Unless you have good Perl coders around
to learn from you can find yourself in a perl quagmire when it comes to
maintenance if you are not careful. (Much like C) That is not to say
Perl can't do things or clean Perl can't be written. It is just easier to
pick up bad habits in Perl that bite you later. It also, is not
notoriously strong for "database applications". It's primary strength is
in CGI and system administration type utilities.

Ruby is probably the best language of the bunch. However, it is not
nearly as supported or adopted as Perl or Python, so you run the risks
associated with dealing with an "off language".

These of course are my opinions and as you will find on this list...
Opinions vary.

-Derek