There is a big growth in people adopting Python as a programming language for almost everything from simple scripts to applications to web programming to network programming and many more.
Now, Python is used for scripting in almost all great 3D animation and composition software, like Maya, Softimage XSI, Houdini, Blender, Nuke, Lightwave CORE (soon i hope) etc.
For starters, please go to www.python.org/about/ and read about Python to see if it’s for you.
I am just starting programming and i choose Python because:
- it’s FREE and Open Source;
- it’s very easy to learn, it has very clear syntax and reading a Python program is somehow similar to reading plain english;
- it is used for scripting in major 3D and composition apps;
- it’s dynamic, high-level, object oriented programming language (for newbies like me this line it’s translated as “modern”);
- it has a huge user-base so you can find help/tutorials and example code very easy;
- it’s platform independent so your Python programs will work on Windows, Mac an Linux;
- it’s portable, just like Linux, people will install it if they could even on washing machines. Python is now ported on Symbian phones as PYS60.
Download Python (Try to stick to version 2.6.x) and use it if you want to:
- learn programming
- automate stuff, like, renaming 1000 photos in a directory or making back-ups of your hard-disk at different time frames
- build applications (also with GUI – graphical user interfaces) and eve games
- create web-sites with dynamic content
- create a script to distribute rendering in a network of computers
- build script/plugins for Maya, XSI, Houdini, Blender, Nuke
- the list is limited only by your imagination
Next i will point you to where do i think, as a newbie, you have to go to get started with learning Python (i’m sure you can Google out the matter:) ).
KAIGARA Online 