Python is my first scripting language. In 1999, I picked up the 1st edition of “Programming Python” and learnt the language during my summer vacation. Of course, since I haven’t used it in the last six years (Java, C++ and Perl have filled my work life) I’ve forgotten most of the details. I’m getting back into it and I’m remembering what I enjoyed about it. There are more online resources for learning Python than there used to be. I want to give a shout out to http://diveintopython.org. It’s an excellent python resource and a well written book at that. Another useful tool I’ve discovered is ipython. When I started Python in 1999, having a REPL rocked my world. ipython is a Python REPL on crack!