# python: what can i do with it



## exodusprime1337 (Jan 27, 2010)

My girlfriends brother is a software engineer and i asked him about learning a programming language and he said that python was a pretty good place to start... i found some guides online that seem easy enough to follow but the problem i'm having is... what is it good for??

can anybody post some code they found or wrote for python 2 so i can see some examples of written code??


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## Yukikaze (Jan 27, 2010)

exodusprime1337 said:


> My girlfriends brother is a software engineer and i asked him about learning a programming language and he said that python was a pretty good place to start... i found some guides online that seem easy enough to follow but the problem i'm having is... what is it good for??
> 
> can anybody post some code they found or wrote for python 2 so i can see some examples of written code??



I am currently running an experiment on Planetlab which is doing measurements of some things over the internet, and the code is written entirely in Python. I started coding in the language a very short while ago and it is indeed very simple and very easy to learn and comes with a very powerful library of tools (You have built-in code to do things like MD5 checksum calculations, working with ZIP archive files, and so on).

It can do just about anything you throw at it, including even things like basic 3D graphics by using Python libraries which interact with OpenGL.

I cannot provide examples of my code, for obvious reasons, and I gotta run to work, so I cannot find you anything very interesting as code examples off the web. 

In general - Just about any shell (non-GUI) application you can think of, or can find on the web, written in any other language, can most likely be written in Python. As a scripting language, it is especially comfortable to use for file and text manipulation, or for the creation of small but helpful applications, such as this little bit of code generating random passwords for admins.


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## unibrow1990 (Jan 27, 2010)

Python is a great programming language to start learning in. It is the first language I learned to program in and while I have now found other languages I like better for everyday programming I think python is the best place to start.

Python is a general purpose programming language, so it is good for really anything, The only area where it struggles is in some computationally intense programs, because it is an interpreted rather than a com piled language and there fore slower to execute. This slowness is indistinguishable in everyday applications though.

I will post some python programs that I have written in a little bit(I have to change the code from 3.x to 2.x)


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## unibrow1990 (Jan 27, 2010)

As promised here are some things I've written in python at various dates, I tried to confine it to more well written things that do some different actions.

Included:

GUI apps - A couple GUI apps I wrote that run scripted events out a parallel port, my friend used them with a circuit he built to make fireworks shows.

Quiz game - A simple Quiz game I wrote, includes an app that makes a default quiz and one that lets you write new quizzes.

Simple number game - A good one to look at to start,i its a simple Higher.lower number guessing game.

Working with files - An addition I wrote for a friends WoW module that demonstrates working with files and widows commands.

Hopes these help.


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## regexorcist (Feb 2, 2010)

Python is awesome and easy to learn.
An execllent choice for a first language.
Multi-platform
Object Oriented
Forced indenting (creates good habits)
Fairly high-level so you don't get frustrated with low level details

Best of all, it's named after Monty Python 
Good Choice, you should thank him!!


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## regexorcist (Feb 2, 2010)

What can Python do???

This simple python script shows how many times 
certain numbers came up in the NJ Cash5 Lottery.

It goes online and compares against the historical archive of winning numbers.


```
#!/usr/bin/python

import re
import urllib

lotto_link = 'http://www.state.nj.us/lottery/games/1-3-2_jc5_history_pfv.shtml'
my_numbers = ('01','02','03','04','05')

draw_numbers = ''
my_matches = []

file_handle = urllib.urlopen(lotto_link)

print 'Drawing Date   Winning Numbers   Numbers I Matched'
print '------------   ---------------   -----------------'

for file_row in file_handle.readlines():

  if file_row.startswith('        <tr><td valign="top" align="center">') \
  or file_row.startswith('<tr><td valign="top" align="center">'):
    
    draw_date = file_row.strip(' ')[36:46]
    draw_numbers = file_row.strip(' ')[83:97]

    my_matches = []

    for loop_count in range(0,4):
      if re.search(my_numbers[loop_count], draw_numbers):
        my_matches.append(my_numbers[loop_count])
          
    print draw_date,'   ',draw_numbers,'  ', my_matches

file_handle.close()
```

What can Python do?

Python can help you win the lottery


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## regexorcist (Feb 4, 2010)

unibrow1990 said:


> As promised here are some things I've written in python at various dates, I tried to confine it to more well written things that do some different actions.
> 
> Included:
> 
> ...


Thanks for the apps, I finally got around to downloading "unzip" for linux
so I could get at them. 

(had to tweak things a bit) 
Good Stuff  
*THANKS*!!

Have you played around w/ Python3 yet?


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## parelem (Feb 6, 2010)

here are some programs i wrote when learning python, mostly basic python but also some cython and c extensions with the python api. don't remember exactly what all the programs are, i do know there's a maze builder and solver using classes. i'm sure i can dig up more, i can also get some tutorials and snippets i've written for anyone interested.


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## regexorcist (Feb 6, 2010)

Hi parelem,
How unusual, tarballs inside of a pk/win zip file 

I opened one of your tarballs and found the Golden Search.
I've never used that, but it reminds me of the Fibonacci search
which reminds me of school and now my head is hurting. :shadedshu

And now that I'm thinking of school, I'm going to have a BEER 

I'll get around to opening the rest of the tarballs soon
Good Stuff parelem (maybe a little too advanced for me )


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## parelem (Feb 7, 2010)

yeah, that golden section search was "fun" to say the least. the "275" labeled programs are more complex than the "mp" ones, i'll see what else i can find. if you have any questions regarding my files or python in general, feel free to ask.


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