[J-e-L-L-o]

Hi there, I am a new programmer and just learning C++. I want to learn python alongside it but have the question of which package to install on OSX.

If I am going to learn it, should I just learn 3.0 now? I won't be developing anything ne time soon, and just want to learn the language. From what I have read 2.7 is the de facto standard and the 3.0 stuff will eventually be better but not fully prime time yet.

So my question is which should I learn now.

Thank you for the advice.

[Motoma]

The best summary of this decision is available on Python.org: Python 2 or 3?

This post has been edited by Motoma: 25 January 2011 - 04:11 AM

[atraub]

The differences are pretty marginal. There was actually a discussion about the topic that got nasty just a few months ago on this board. I personally feel that most people should adopt Python 3, but you'll find a lot of people who disagree with me.

EDIT:
I trust this will be the last time you say 'NooB' at DIC.

This post has been edited by atraub: 25 January 2011 - 07:40 AM

[J-e-L-L-o]

I am just going to learn 3. By the time I do learn it....it will be mainstream and 2.x will no longer be supported anyway.
Thats like learning Vista when Windows 7 was in beta.... (to me anyway).

Quote

I trust this will be the last time you say 'NooB' at DIC.

I just didn't want to get bashed for asking a simple question. I've been reading through here and there are a lot of rude posts, even to people that are asking a simple question thats being asked for advice.

I don't know jack about programming, and I am switching gears from being a chemical engineer to computer scientist.

This post has been edited by J-e-L-L-o: 25 January 2011 - 12:05 PM

[atraub]

Surely not on my Python forum though We're actually pretty relaxed even when we see horrendous verbal vomit.

I personally try to limit the amount of abuse I see on this forum. There's no reason anyone should ever have to insult themselves so that others won't. It's not how we work here.


ALSO:
I personally always talk in Python3 on the forum. Most of the code I see really tends to be 3.x too. However, when there's no printing, user input, or division, it can be hard to tell which implementation the code is written in at first glance.

This post has been edited by atraub: 25 January 2011 - 01:12 PM

[Simown]

atraub, on 25 January 2011 - 12:53 PM, said:

Surely not on my Python forum though We're actually pretty relaxed even when we see horrendous verbal vomit.

...It's not how we work here.

Agreed.

I stopped posting a lot in other forums solely for the way some people posted and replied. Even some regular posters are harsh but to the point, there is no rule against it - nor should there be. Knocking people down on a programming forum for help I think defeats the point.

As atraub and Motoma said, there is a few key differences between Python 2 and 3, you could easily adapt if you found a better learning resource for either one. Python 3 is probably the way to go since it will eventually overrule 2, there isn't as much support for packaging Python 3 programs or as many tools to create GUIs etc. but I am certain that will not be a problem in the future.

This post has been edited by Simown: 25 January 2011 - 06:10 PM