Python came early

October 25, 2012 · 16 Comments

I just posted that I'll be learning Python in 2013 and going to PyCon. I hadn't actually intended to start doing Python until January. After all, it's not like I don't have enough to do already!

However...

At World Singles we've had MongoDB in production for over a year but with 10gen offering free courses for MongoDB developers and administrators, I figured I'd sign up for the developers course - our production MongoDB setup is managed by the excellent folks at MongoLab so I don't need to worry about administration yet!

10gen have done an awesome job of the materials for this course. It's clear that a huge amount of work has gone into the videos and the flow of the material. It's beautifully presented and very professional. I'm having a blast! And to think that 10gen are providing all this for free!

Naturally, to interact with a database you need to program in a language. 10gen have chosen Python. So now I get to learn Python this week!

So far, I'm quite impressed. Python is a simple, clean, obvious language - based on what I've see so far. I thought the significant whitespace would drive me nuts, but so far it hasn't. We're using Bottle and PyMongo and those APIs seem clean and obvious as well.

I'm looking forward to the exercises in week two of the course.

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Tags: mongodb · python

16 responses so far ↓

1 Daniel Greenfeld // Oct 25, 2012 at 11:09 PM

If you liked Bottle, I suggest you try Flask. Very similar and with a lot more support.

http://flask.pocoo.org/
2 Adam Presley // Oct 26, 2012 at 8:14 AM

I have been doing several project in Python. I agree with you! The language is clean, the whitespace is actually really easy to grasp and easy on the eyes.

BottlePy is fantastically simple and fast. Also check out Beaker for session management to go along with Bottle. Very configurable and easy to use.
3 Sean Corfield // Oct 26, 2012 at 8:43 AM

@Daniel, I'll check Flask out in 2013. For now, Bottle is what the 10gen course uses so that's what I'll stick with (the course runs thru December).
4 Sean Corfield // Oct 26, 2012 at 8:45 AM

Bottle, Beaker, Flask - does the Python community have a thing for cute framework names? :)
5 Kirill // Oct 26, 2012 at 6:14 PM

I am doing this 10gen course too, along with Coursera's "Functional Programming with Scala". I should say that I am really really enjoying the later one, I think it is perfect match for mid-level developers.
6 Sean Corfield // Oct 26, 2012 at 6:45 PM

I'll have to keep eye open for the next run of that (even tho' I'm done with Scala, really :) as it sounds like fun. You're not the first to recommend it!
7 francesca // Oct 30, 2012 at 3:22 AM

I was also happily surprised to learn python early! I've been putting it off for a few months, but the 10gen education course did an excellent job of going through python syntax, which is great for someone who doesn't have experience with interpreted languages
8 Kerr // Oct 30, 2012 at 8:25 AM

Nice to see you're getting into Python. Due to a job change, after more than a decade of ColdFusion I'm no longer actively using the language. I've been using Python for side projects for some time now, and I really enjoy it.
9 Sean Corfield // Nov 1, 2012 at 1:51 PM

@francesca thanx for all your hard work on the MongoDB user groups!
10 Dave Doolin // Nov 27, 2012 at 1:24 PM

Python is pretty nice. You'll probably enjoy Ruby quite a bit as well, when you have time to learn it. I'm coming to Python from the Ruby side and find the languages more complementing than competing.
11 Dale Fraser // Nov 27, 2012 at 3:03 PM

I think there is a pill for that.
12 Sean Corfield // Nov 27, 2012 at 6:49 PM

@Dave, Ruby's my 2014 language (unless something else pops to the top of the stack). To date Ruby has put me off because of its syntax... reminds me too much of Perl and PHP... but I'll see how I feel when I have a proper run at it!
13 Kerr // Nov 27, 2012 at 8:23 PM

I'm not sure from where the Ruby == Perl /PHP syntax view emanates. One that comes to mind is, "How do I in(de)crement a variable in Ruby?". This comes from many a native Perl/PHP speaker out there... never from a Pythonista.
14 Sean Corfield // Nov 29, 2012 at 6:24 PM

@Kerr, I've worked with dozens of languages over three decades... Ruby just reminds me most of Perl and PHP with its use of punctuation as syntax. It's subjective.
15 Kerr // Dec 2, 2012 at 5:34 PM

Fair enough. ;) I hope you enjoy working with Python. I'm a bit late to the party, but am starting out on Seven Languages. Fun stuff.
16 Sean Corfield // Dec 2, 2012 at 7:33 PM

The Seven Languages book is terrific - should be required reading for every developer, regardless of their 'home' language. Make sure you do _all_ the homeworks, even when they're really hard! (I struggled with Io, I admit!)

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