Following my mini adventure in Python with Rudy Trujillo , I reviewed some of the transcript for ...

[G+_Jeff Brand]

Following my mini adventure in Python with Rudy Trujillo , I reviewed some of the transcript for the Python intro episode of Coding 101, #11.

 

I have a few questions that perhaps Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ or others could help answer.

 

1. In that track, you favored Python 2.x. For someone learning today, is that still the correct choice? I've ready that Python 2.x development has stopped which leads me to think 3.x is the way to go.

 

2. Google uses Python heavily. Much of their support sites still use .py extensions in their URLs. I've also heard that aspiring Googlers would do well to learn Python over any other scripting language. What's the reason for this? It seems like it has much less legacy baggage that PHP, Perl, or Bash has. The import system also seems to keep things lean and mean so it may be a matter of performance, flexibility as a command-line or web backend scripting language, or a personal preference by early Googlers.

 

3. How well does Python bridge the gap from scripting to bytecode-compiled executable? I've seen .py and .pyc files used by software like Sublime Text 2 and believe that that entire IDE is written in it. I know tools like py2exe exist. Does this make Python a viable alternative for development of actual desktop apps instead of C++, C#, VB.NET, or even Java? It might actually be easier to deploy than apps that depend on either the .NET Framework or JRE.

[G+_Chris Bickhaus]

I am by no means an expert, but I have dabbled in Python enough to feel comfortable answering your first question. While Python 2 is no longer in development, and Python 3 had been around for awhile, Python 2 still has a lot of support. Further, it has a huge base of libraries (things to import to make your life easier), many of which have not been ported over to Python 3.? Essentially inertia has helped Python 2 remain the standard.? Check out this link for more: https://wiki.python.org/moin/Python2orPython3

[G+_Rud Dog]

My decision was to load and use Python 3 only from past experience in other areas where earlier versions were always phased out for the new.

 

 I have used the py2exe successfully and need to setup up some sort of code drop box so the old code can be dropped into it and pop out as Python3, only because I tend to forget how to run it and where I put the code:)