I have been in the I.T. field for a long time now, but [....] I want to move into becoming a professional programmer. I am thinking of studying Python and/or C++
Here's what Guido van Rossum, the designer of Python, said in 2003 about his own language [
*]:
Actually, my initial goal for Python was to serve as a second language for people who were C or C++ programmers, but who had work where writing a C program was just not effective. [....] Because maybe it was something you'd do only once. It was the sort of thing you'd prefer to write a shell script for, but when you got into the writing details, you found that the shell was not the ideal language—you needed more data structures, more namespaces, or maybe more performance. The first sound bite I had for Python was, "Bridge the gap between the shell and C." So I never intended Python to be the primary language for programmers, although it has become the primary language for many Python users. It was intended to be a second language for people who were already experienced programmers, as some of the early design choices reflect.
So its
own inventor had
no intention of Python becoming a first step toward "becoming a
professional programmer". His intent ought to count for
something, as you evaluate paths to your goal.
I interpret "the primary language for many
Python users" as a diplomatic way referring to people who are
not professional programmers, but are entitled to
some respect as part of the coding-or-programming community for his language.
-------
Note
*: "Python's Design Goals [:] A Conversation with Guido van Rossum, Part II", by Bill Venners.
Artima, January 20, 2003: <
https://www.artima.com/intv/pyscale.html>.
Topic: Seeking Program Language Recommendations (Read 2027 times)