[caption id="attachment_9999" align="alignleft" width="355"]Python Logo Python logo from the Python Foundation[/caption]

Zipping through the Python 3 tutorial from the Python Foundation, some things stood out more than others. Coming from a background of work in C, C++, and C#, I found the following items interesting:

Strings

String handling is something every programming language has to deal with and a good way to feel how the language designers solve problems. C approaches bare metal and has historically proven to be error prone. C++ offers the choice of going with C or taking the performance overhead of string libraries in exchange for reduced headaches. C# reflects a more recent school of thinking where the programmer is prevented from shooting themselves and all their customers in their collective feet. Python is in the last bucket and I'm happy to see it.

A different 'for' loop

Python's for loops always iterate over items of a sequence, and not based on an integer index like I'm used to from C and C++. It feels like foreach from C# but hopefully without the negative performance impact.

An 'else' block after a loop?

The 'else' block of a loop was a novel idea to me. I've never had this tool in my toolbox and my brain isn't used to structuring code to take advantage of this mechanism, but I am optimistic I will find it useful.

Python classes

The Python designers took a very different path to implement classes than any other object-oriented language I've learned. The tutorial began with some background, a big wall of text that I originally thought I'd skip thinking it'd be repeating things I already knew. Now I'm glad I put in the effort to read it. Python classes look familiar at first glance, but after reading about the nuts and bolts, I know I'll get into trouble if I had treated them the same way as C++ classes.

I expect I'll still get into trouble, but now I'm optimistic I will understand why and be able to dig my way out.