Andy wrote: > So as you can see I feel that each language has it's own pro's and > con's and I might end up learning them both eventually. Do you all > think Python will work for what I want right now?
You don't say, but it sounds like you are just starting out with programming. I strongly second what Luke said - Python is a great language to start with, much easier than C++, and if you sometime decide to learn C++ it will be much easier when you already know how to program. > My biggest concern > with Python is the upkeep involved in trying to distribute your > applications. Do updates to Python usually cause issues? Why would > something like Pygame work with Python 2.4 but not 2.5? Point upgrades such as 2.4 to 2.5 generally keep a high level of backward compatibility for Python code, so a Python program that runs under 2.4 will most likely run the same under 2.5. However, point upgrades do not retain binary compatibility for compiled extensions such as pygame; these extensions need to be rebuilt for the new version. On Windows most Python programmers are not willing / interested / able to compile the extensions themselves, so it is common for binary installers to be distributed for Windows versions of extensions. When a new Python comes out, these have to be updated. The pace of the updates varies widely depending on how active the extension project is and how much the developers care about Windows. For some users the availability of a key extension is what gates the upgrade. Kent _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
