Well, Python is hard to learn...

[wen]

due to the work reason, i have to learn python since last month. i have
spent 1 week on learning python tutorial and felt good. but i still don't
understand most part of sourcecode of PYMOL(http://pymol.sourceforge.net/)
as before.

it sucks.

anybody do the same thing as i am doing? i wanna seek a buddy to disscuss it
together.

[James]

I don't know about you but I would not learn ANY decent programming
language for a week and expect to know the idioms enough to understand
the source of a large software written in it.

[NutJob]

Well, I reckon it all depends on how much experience you have with
programming languages in general. If you're completely new to
programming it's probably going to take a while to get to grips with it
all, regardless of which language you're picking up, although I'd wager
that Python is still one of the most intuitive and easiest to learn
languages around. Personally I learnt to code in C++ Python, and Perl
with a little bit of Java, Tcl and C# thrown in there as well and I
like Python and C++ the most.
Just be patient, mate, you'll get the hang of it before long.

[Alessandro Bottoni]

wen wrote:

due to the work reason, i have to learn python since last month. i have
spent 1 week on learning python tutorial and felt good. but i still don't
understand most part of sourcecode of PYMOL(http://pymol.sourceforge.net/)
as before.

it sucks.

No, please, don't say that. It is _not_ Python's fault.

PyMol is a _large_ and _complex_ piece of software. I would be happy to
understand a _very small_ part of its source code after having studied
Python for just a week or so.

Python is one of the easiest programming language around but it cannot make
simple a complex task like molecular design or molecular dynamic (I'm a
chemist and I can understand your disappointment) .

You will have to wait _months_ before being able to understand such a
complex piece of software well enough to be able to play with its source
code. But... do you really need to play with the source code of this
program? Do you really have to tweak its code to fit your needs? Could not
be enough to write some plug-in, some wrapper or some other kind of
"external" program? This would be much easier.

HTH

-----------------------------------
Alessandro Bottoni

[bruno modulix]

wen wrote:

due to the work reason, i have to learn python since last month. i have
spent 1 week on learning python tutorial and felt good. but i still don't
understand most part of sourcecode of PYMOL(http://pymol.sourceforge.net/)
as before.

it sucks.

<joking>
I have spent 1 week on learning reading and felt good. but I still don't
understand most part of Emmanuel Kant's writings.
</joking>

Wen, please don't take it bad !-)

What I mean is that something inherently complex will be difficult to
understand whatever the language. And I guess that something like PyMOL
would be *much more* difficult to understand if it was implemented in C++.
--
bruno desthuilliers
python -c "print '@'.join(['.'.join([w[::-1] for w in p.split('.')]) for
p in 'o****@xiludom. gro'.split('@')])"

[Paul Boddie]

bruno wrote:

<joking>
I have spent 1 week on learning reading and felt good. but I still don't
understand most part of Emmanuel Kant's writings.
</joking>

Monty Python really missed out there: cut to a sketch featuring three
year olds discussing Kant. ;-)

Paul

[Rocco Moretti]

wen wrote:

due to the work reason, i have to learn python since last month. i have
spent 1 week on learning python tutorial and felt good. but i still don't
understand most part of sourcecode of PYMOL(http://pymol.sourceforge.net/)
as before.

Well, last time I checked, a good chunk of PyMol was written in C.
Knowing Python may help you to learn C, but I doubt that one week is
going to be sufficient.

But I agree that Python is deceptive. It's so easy to learn and use, you
can easily convince yourself you're a better programmer than you
actually are.

[Cameron Laird]

In article <11************ *********@z14g2 000cwz.googlegr oups.com>,
Paul Boddie <pa**@boddie.or g.uk> wrote:

bruno wrote:

<joking>
I have spent 1 week on learning reading and felt good. but I still don't
understand most part of Emmanuel Kant's writings.
</joking>

Monty Python really missed out there: cut to a sketch featuring three
year olds discussing Kant. ;-)

Paul

"It's not fair! I told Mommy about the immanent
pragmatics of taking my sister's blankie, and she
*still* said I had to take a nap!"

[Magnus Lycka]

wen wrote:

due to the work reason, i have to learn python since last month. i have
spent 1 week on learning python tutorial and felt good. but i still don't
understand most part of sourcecode of PYMOL(http://pymol.sourceforge.net/)
as before.

Maybe you (or someone else) is making a mistake if you are trying
to understand PyMol in this stage of learning. I haven't used
PyMol, but I really doubt that you need to understand its source
code unless your aiming to maintain that code.

If you approached it as a learning exercise, you aimed way too high.

If you approached it because you need to use PyMol, trying to understand
its source code is probably the wrong approach.

You don't need to learn all the details of how a car works to drive it.
You don't even have to understand how the engine is designed to change
wheels or fix rust holes.

I'm aware that you use Python to perform advanced operations in PyMol,
but you don't need to understand PyMol's internals for that.