Learning Python

I’m a long time C developer. Basically I figure that anything that needed to be coded could be coded in C. I still hold that belief, but 7-8 years ago I came to the realization that while that may be true, it is not always the best answer. For project reasons at work I learned Fortran and began to recognize its value when it comes to math. For other project reasons I learn how powerful simple Unix scripts can be. So basically for the last 7-8 years I’ve seen Unix scripting as a steering tool, C for text processing, Fortran for math, and Java for object-oriented and gui tasks. But recently based on a number of article from Computing in Science and Engineering (CiSE) I’ve come to learn about Python.

Python is a scripting language at its core, but overall it is much more. Python has a variety of modules and add-ons. Some basic include modules include NumPy/SciPy for math and science, CSV for delimited text, and XML for xml parsing and generation. My first Python program took me only a day or so to develop and test, it was a CSV translator. Basically it converted one CSV file into another. My next program took me another 2-3 days and it converted a gridded file into a CSV formatted file. And today, I wrote my first XML parser. Using ‘minidom’ from the xml package I was able to put together a simple parser for converting an XML file into a csv file.

All this I’ve basically accomplished over a few weeks of learning using only a handful of simple resources both online and in print. Yes I have many years of experience with a variety of programming languages, but I definitely have found Python the easiest to learn yet. Here is a quick list of resources I’ve found helpful:

Tutorial at Python.org
Python.org Library Reference
Dive into Python by Mark Pilgrim
Python/XML Howto by A.M. Kuchling
Python XML Frequently Asked Questions by Dave Kuhlman
Book: XML Processing with Perl, Python, and PHP by Martin C. Brown
Magazine: CiSE issue: Python: Batteries Included Volume 9, Number 3
Python and XML: An Introduction
Creating XML with Python

I’ve bookmarked a number of other sites for future use but have not gotten to them yet. My next task will be to add a simple XML version of the gridded data file mentioned above, plus add NetCDF writing support and GIS writting support, namely ESRI Shapefiles. I also plan on learning howto wrap my C packages with Python binding. To put it plainly, things that I’ve spent years developing and testing in C for parsing weather related data, will all slowly be phased out and replaced with python code and modules and all opensource.

update 2008-03-19: added 2 more links

March 18, 2008 Posted by nickc321 | links, opensource, programming, python, weather | | No Comments Yet

Relic thefts ‘huge crime problem’ in U.S. parks

Theft of artifacts and relics is robbing not only the US Parks System, but everybody who visits and recognizes the purpose and benefit of the parks for all. While I’m not surprise that things like this happen, heck it happens all over the world… but regardless…. Anyways… I don’t know on whom to place more blame, the actual thieves, those who purchase the relics, or to a less extend the government for not funding the Parks well enough those they can attempt to prevent this. I think overall my blame falls on those who purchase these relics, and that goes for all theft related events, from fine art to animal pelts. If no one was willing to purchase these items, then no one would profit from the actual theft of such objects… oh off my soap box….

Relic thefts ‘huge crime problem’ in U.S. parks

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