Really enjoyed Bill Sconce's Python talk last night...

[Hewitt Tech]

It's been too long since I had the pleasure of hearing Bill Sconce deliver a
technical presentation. A number of years ago, when Bill worked for DEC, his
technical presentations at the annual customer conferences were widely
anticipated and heavily attended. For those of you who don't know, Bill
worked for a number of years as a computer language implementor. What I can
say about the quality of his work is that after release, his compilers
received practically zero problem reports. That was because Bill was
meticulous in his implementation and made sure that almost every bug was
eliminated before the product shipped. At any rate, you would certainly gain
some understanding of the quality of his work if you attended the
presentation last night. I was sitting there having dabbled with Python a
bit thinking that the talk would unfold slowly and I wouldn't be surprised.
And that was true right up until Bill typed "dir(object)". Then and there I
realized I wasn't looking at my father's programming tool! ;^) Seriously,
Bill's presentation more than convinced me that I need to jump into Python
with both feet and drag my skills into the present. I've spent a good chunk
of my career working in 3 GLs and Python is definitely a 4 GL.

As an aside, Paul I recommended a book to you last night about object
oriented programming. The title is "Beginning Java Objects: From Concepts to
Code" by Jacquie Barker. It's a Wrox press book which you should find in
Barnes & Noble (although I usually end up buying my books from
www.bookpool.com). The ISBN is 1-861004-17-6. Although the book features the
word "Java" prominently in the title, it's really an object oriented
programming primer and I think one of the best available.

-Alex

P.S. I don't own stock in Bookpool but I am a very satisfied customer.