Porpuses of Python

I've been reading the Python documentation, and trying figure out whether to try it out or not. I'm puzzled about the fact that Python is a interpreted OOP language, meaning that it basicly is a scripting language. Still, for what I've been reading, Python is used to create standalone applications. There has been sections covering the use of it to make CGI scripts, but that's not what I'm intrested in. I wanted to make a clafication about the porpuses of Python; do you use GTK to make the Python scripts standalone or how is it basicly done?

When compared to another language, Python is most often compared to Perl. The majority of things you can do in one language you can do in the other as well. Most people agree that the syntax of Python is easier to understand. Also that the OO features of Python are easier to use.

If you have time, you might want to read this Linux Journal article:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=3882

• You can use Python to run batch jobs (scripts that don't have an interface).
• You can use it for web programming. At this site check out http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/...ntro/page1.html
• Use Tkinter to produce standalone apps that are portable across platforms: http://www.python.org/topics/tkinter/
• There's a commercial IDE available for building applications: http://www.thekompany.com/products/...bf4fd7812379bd8

I'm not a Python expert. I've used Perl more. Learning Python is one of the (many) items on my to-do list. Hopefully these links will help answer some of your questions.

Thank you dcaillouet. Your intro and links were indeed very helpful

Actually, I really don't like Python's syntax, and I think its harder to read. I like having brackets around my function bodies and I like having semicolons to indicate the end of a line -- its so much harder to figure out whats going just based on "well this line is indented more than this line" or "here's some whitespace". Its just not very structured, and that leads to a lot of annoying errors.

I guess you should stick to Perl or Ruby then.
Although it does take some getting used to, overall it's easier and faster. Because there are only minimal differences in coding style, most programs are easier to read. Also this takes up much less screen space, which is a valuable thing.

Take a look here for the reasons why GvR chose this style.