Heh, ok, so a few weeks ago i noted that Tools Don't Matter. i still stand beside that statement, but needless to say, it's not like i'm going to turn away a popular tool i don't have.
That said, (and with thoughts toward keeping future me a swiss army knife of software design) i'm thinking that i probably ought to spend some time learning Python and Java. i've already got a few projects in mind to immerse myself into, but i'd like to have a few things to help guide me on the way.
So, what would you suggest to a get a neophyte Java/Python programmer on his merry way. (Good news, i totally grok Object theory and practice, so it's more a case of learning the syntaxes and frameworks.) Should i grab a copy of Eclipse or will gVim generally suffice? Are there any sites like php.net or CPAN that are worth digging around in?
Honestly, i'm figuring that i'll be proficient in both in about a month or so, (i was fairly solid in Perl in about two weeks) but i'm happy to shorten that time where possible.
I've only done a little java programming in college and on the side and in my experience there's one thing you need to know:
String.equals(string);
This encompasses: 1. Almost everything is an object, 2. Everything is a reference, 3. Most of the time you don't want operators, you want functions, 4. This is how you do string comparison.
That said, I do recommend Eclipse with correct Javadoc extensions and the online Javadoc for reference as it's pretty much as verbose as php.net.
Python for Lisp programmers
Python IAQ
and a simple spelling corrector in python: http://norvig.com/spell-correct.html
You'll never want to use Perl again :)
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Python in a Nutshell was recommended to me by a good number of people, and it's pretty good indeed.
And you'll probably have bookmarked the global module index already.
Python is rad, but I still like Ruby more. :)
Cheers,
C.