How hard it is to learn a new language? It depends on the learner, of course; but everyone will agree that it is easier to get your feet wet if you learn the corresponding structures of a language you are already proficient in. That's the principle behind my new article series on Oracle Technology Network: Python for PL/SQL Developers. If you are at least an intermediate level in PL/SQL, you will jumpstart your learning Python by learning the corresponding syntax elements, which is almost always a guaranteed way to learn the meat of the language fairly quickly. I learned most of the languages that way, and this is an experiment to do the same here as well.
Designed as a five part series, it starts off with the basics such as variables and assignments. then it gradually progresses to conditions, loops, functions, modules, etc. Finally, it explains how to use publicly available packages for data manipulation, including the ones to connect to the Oracle database. The idea is to have you up and running in Python by committing about an hour every day for a week.
Too busy to read? I have developed a video for each part. Watch it and go at it. Each part also has a quiz to test your knowledge gained from that part.
Here it is: http://bit.ly/python4plsql
As always, I will be successful only if you (and only you) like it. I will appreciate your honest feedback on this series. How you liked it (or, not); what are the strengths; what areas could have been improved and so on. Post as comments here, tweet @ArupNanda, post at www.FaceBook.com/ArupKNanda or just email me at arup@proligence.com.
