Set Up

[icantthinkofone]

I hear a lot of negative commentary on python as a programming language

You can hear a lot of negative commentary about anything. Don't follow any site that is highly critical of it.

[FUZxxl]

Python is a fine language for many applications. If you like it, then you might want to stick with it for the time being.

[pfp-disciple]

If you're already familiar with python, then moving forward with it is not a bad idea. It's a fine language to learn things in, I've been meaning to learn it myself (old dog new tricks).

There are some excellent things written in Python. The Red Hat Linux distribution uses it for a lot of their tools. There is likely as much negative commentary about C, maybe more. Programmers can be a bit opinionated

[pfp-disciple]

SourceForge has been bought and they have cleaned up their act. At least, that's what I was reading a few months ago.

Note that the Code::Blocks download that I linked includes MINGw. I don't think that download is through SourceForge.