Learning Python

• I recommend that you start learning Python right here, with these documents on Gentry: A Byte of Python. (You can own that document in either HTML or PDF format by downloading from www.byteofpython.info).

• Windows users may want to investigate the enthought distribution of Python for Windows.

• If you plan to use your Python programs in both Windows and Linux, beware of the extra invisible "carriage return" character in Windows text files.

• One thing that is absolutely cool about Python, as compared with Perl, is the availability of the Integrated Development Environment or IDLE. This should be accessible on Unix/Linux by simple typing idle. If you installed the enthought distro, you can invoke IDLE from the Start menu, e.g. under Python 2.4 (Enthought Edition), you will find IDLE (Python GUI). It is possible to develop and your Python programs entirely within the IDLE window. But what I do is develop Python within my favorite text editor (vim for me) and use the IDLE window to test out short snippets of Python. For example, suppose I forgot how to pop an item from a python list. Within IDLE:

  >>>s=[1,2,3]
  >>>dir(s)
  >>>help(s.pop)
  >>>t=s.pop(0)
  >>>t
  >>>s
  

  To learn more about IDLE, visit One Day of IDLE Toying.

• Take a look at this big list of python tutorials. Click on "Beginners".

• Here is a place for "newbies" to start learning Python: How to think like a computer scientist, python version.

• You may want to go to the official Python tutorial.

• You should also be aware of the other online documentation found at python.org. If you can find your way to the documentation, you will see a very important link labeled "keep this under you pillow": Python Library Reference. In there, you can find an references to very powerful Python modules. Here is just one example: Pickle. Some very powerful features of Python end up being hidden from newbies who read a single introductory book, no matter how well-recommended that book is.

• Speaking of books, do you want to invest in some books about Python? These two go well together: Practical Python and Python Cookbook. Check out the reviews at amazon.com.

Python advocacy

• Why Python
• scripting languages.
• Lou's Python Advocacy Page.
• a joke where Python wins in the punch line.

Task for Spring 2006

• Download makePickle.py. Or, if you must do this on Gentry, then enter on the Gentry command line:

  wget http://gentry.metr.ou.edu/pytut/makePickle.py
  

• Download playmeso.py. (Slight alterations on 2/4/2006. In fact, previously one of the subtasks was mistakenly completed for you, but now it is gone... if you grabbed the earlier version, lucky you!)

• Download this mesonet data file from 2005/12/27: latest.mdf.

chmod u+x *.py
makePickle.py latest.mdf
playmeso.py latest.mdf.pickle

If the scripts worked okay, then prepare to make modifications of playmeso.py. First, make a copy to a new file. For example, on Linux:

cp playmeso.py mymods.py

One of the sub-tasks requires making a file new.pickle. You can test to see if you created new.pickle correctly with the little script: pickinsp.py.

Also, to clarify what the goals are, my completed mymods.py dumps this standard output to the monitor, and makes these files: offenders.dat and missmeas.dat.

Executing

pickinsp.py new.pickle