newb Python question

[Turbonium]

Which one of these am I supposed to install? I'm assuming the x86-64 MSI one (I have a 64-bit OS and CPU).

XZ compressed source tar ball (2.7.5) (sig)
Gzipped source tar ball (2.7.5) (sig)
Bzipped source tar ball (2.7.5) (sig)
Windows x86 MSI Installer (2.7.5) (sig)
Windows x86 MSI program database (2.7.5) (sig)
Windows X86-64 MSI Installer (2.7.5) [1] (sig)
Windows X86-64 program database (2.7.5) [1] (sig)

:|

It's for learning Python by the way (can you tell?).

EDIT: I'm just making absolutely sure before I go ahead and install it.

 

[postmark]

You can do either 64 or 32 MSI. Read here for opinions on what to use:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3117626/should-i-use-python-32bit-or-python-64bit

 

[Turbonium]

So it would seem that 32-bit MSI is best for learning, as performance isn't really an issue for those purposes, but compatibility and such is.

 

[radtechtips]

So it would seem that 32-bit MSI is best for learning, as performance isn't really an issue for those purposes, but compatibility and such is.

Windows or Linux?

 

[Turbonium]

Windows or Linux?

Windows.

 

[radtechtips]

Windows.

I used the x86-64 MSI installer

 

[Obsoleet]

Windows X86-64 MSI Installer (3.3.2) [1] (sig)

Unless your learning material is specifically calling for Python2, you should be using 3.

 

[irishScott]

Windows X86-64 MSI Installer (3.3.2) [1] (sig)

Unless your learning material is specifically calling for Python2, you should be using 3.

Agreed. Python 2 is kept around for legacy purposes, but it's being phased out.

 

[Elixer]

Agreed. Python 2 is kept around for legacy purposes, but it's being phased out.

It is going to take a long, long time for it to be phased out, if ever.
There are just too many legacy programs using python 2 to see it go bye bye. I'll say in 10 years there will still be python 2 programs out there.

To recap, better to learn python 3, and also what exactly has changed between versions, in case you get a job that needs to you do upkeep on python 2 stuff.

 

[Obsoleet]

There's still Cobol out there. Doesn't mean it's a good idea to learn it or use it for your new project.

I guess I wouldn't deride someone for learning an effectively obsolete programming language (definition of obsolete is varied here but mine is when it's no longer the supported version, YMMV). By that definition, Cobol 2002 is not obsolete. And neither is Python2.7.

If you learn Python3 well, using Python2 won't be a problem and vice versa really. I certainly wouldn't implement one of my own projects in Python2 though.
There's way too many core programming concepts that need to be learned before worrying about minor differences between language specs, or even other programming languages entirely IMO.
The differences only become "not minor" when you have a large codebase with a lot of dependencies.

Learn the basics of programming using Python2 (which is the version I know, but have officially started using Python3 recently) and then do whatever you want. ObjectiveC, Javascript, whatever accomplishes what you want to achieve. It's the passion you have for it that matters to make you a good programmer so use whatever you find yourself attracted too. Learning new stuff after that will be just a little bit of time and looking stuff up, comparing to what you already know.

I personally find myself attracted to Python2/3 and I'm not sure I can put my finger on exactly why, but I'm studying JS now and really liking it too. Pretty easy to pick another one up IMO.