comp.lang.python

signups17

1/18/2008 4:24:00 AM

On Jan 17, 7:56 pm, Xah Lee <x...@xahlee.org> wrote:
> someone wrote:
>
> ?... some other editor that from my perspective, seems arcane and
> impenetrable compared to simple IDEs like IDLE that comes with Python,
> or Scite, for example.?
>
> Yeah that's right. If your main task is programing in compiled lang,
> such as C, Pascal, Java, C++, C#, i dont' think emacs is better than
> IDEs.
>
> If you main task is programing in high level langs, e.g. perl, python,
> php, javascript, web dev, xml, LaTeX etc, emacs beats all others by
> quite far. The reasons are too numerous to detail and many books have
> been written on this.
>
> ?Also, assuming I'm convinced, can you point me in the direction of a
> good tutorial??
>
> A emacs tutorial is available here:
> http://x...emacs/...
>
> ?I'm starting with Python and I've built a few scripts that have
> increased my productivity tremendously at work, doing a lot of data
> crunching, etc.?
>
> Is your data crunching = text processing? For text processing tasks,
> it is much easier and more flexible to do in emacs lisp instead. See
>
> ? Text Processing with Emacs Lisphttp://x...emacs/elisp_text_proce...
>
> ? Elisp Lesson: Process A Thousand Fileshttp://x...emacs/elisp_link_r...
>
> PS I also have a Python tutorial. Since you know Python, you can
> assess the quality of my tutorial by comparing notes:
>
> Xah's Perl+Python Tutorialhttp://x...perl-python/...
>
> Xah
> x...@xahlee.org
> ?http://x...
>
> On Jan 17, 2:03 pm, signup...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > Ok, I'm beginning to teach myself the art of computer programming.
>
> > I'm starting with Python and I've built a few scripts that have
> > increased my productivity tremendously at work, doing a lot of data
> > crunching, etc.
>
> > As I get more and more into programming, I get the sense that "real"
> > programmers use emacs, or some other editor that from my perspective,
> > seems arcane and impenetrable compared to simple IDEs like IDLE that
> > comes with Python, or Scite, for example.
>
> > Can anyone provide a cogent explanation for why I should take the time
> > to climb that learning curve? What are the benefits, as you see them?
>
> > Also, assuming I'm convinced, can you point me in the direction of a
> > good tutorial?
>
> > Thanks in advance.

Thanks much for the helpful responses. This is my third attempt
climbing that learning curve, and I will surely try some of the
tutorials you've all suggested. I've only come so far and each time
reverted to something simpler to complete the task at hand. Here we go
again...