Tharunya's

Just before going to India my husband introduced me to programming in Python. I really didn't get around to doing anything much except reading a few articles and going through bits and pieces of the tutorial. I was shocked at the simplicity of the language. My first program was in BASIC. Then I learnt to program in Fortran and Pascal. Then there was C. I studied a bit of SQL, PL/SQL, and a few other languages after that. None of these have seemed so simple and easy. Writing working code is as easy as typing in a few lines.

In 1998 my job was to teach high school students computer programming using C and C++. I was excited as it was my first job and I was all set to make use of what I'd studied in college. Back then, I thought the best way to train students in object-oriented programming was to teach C and then move to C++/Java. Little did I know...
I wish students are taught Python first. It's not that C or other languages are bad. Its just that Python's far more easy to understand from a beginner's point of view. It's not half as confusing as it is with C or any other language. Its simple and clear. Most of all its just like plain English. You just type in what you think and it does what it says it will do. How simpler can it get.

Now that I'm back from a long vacation and have a lot of time on my hands, I hope to explore this language a little more. The official tutorial is a great place to start. There is also this simpler tutorial which has just enough information to get your way around.