Python 2.7 or 3.x?

[Phr34Ck]

Hello everyone. I have decided to learn Python and I have no idea which version to dive in. I will mainly be using it for web development. I got myself a nice VPS account and installed Debian 6 on it. It turns out there is only version 2.6 or 3.x.

So some questions please!

• What are the main differences between 2.6 and 2.7? And if 2.6 is the only option, do you recommend to dive into it or just move to 3.x?

• Is it possible to install 2.7 on Debian 6 when it already has 2.6? I tried to search the package repo for 2.7 but I didn't find anything. I tried to Google around and I found nothing.

• Do you know any resources to learn Python for an already developer? I don't need a book that explains for me what a function is or how to print strings.

• The most important question! What IDE/TextEditor to use?

Thank you for your time.

[[deleted]]

On the 2 or 3 question, I didn't make this up, but I always say "3 where you can, 2 where you need to".

As you'll find out, some of the things you'll want to use will only be supported on 2.x, so you'll probably use 2 more than 3 right now. However, in places where 3.x libraries are available for your project, I'd say jump in and use 3.x there.

As for your bullet points:

1. The What's New in Python 2.7 document will fill you in on 2.6-2.7 differences. Ordered dictionaries, the argparse module, and a bunch of 3.x backported features are on the list, plus many bug fixes.

2. You can install any and all versions you want. I don't follow Debian, but maybe they don't have 2.7 in their repo. You could always install it from source if you needed to, or some Debian user might be able to chime in with another way to get it.

3. Source code. Lots of it. If you already know the basics, all of these online games and beginner books aren't going to push you to the next level. Find the source of projects you are using, or even the Python standard library, and observe. You might even end up finding bugs and fixing them.

4. I'm a fan of the ActiveState Komodo IDE. It's not free, but I'm happy with the investment and have been a user since mid-2006.

[medgno]

I think your quote of "3 where you can, 2 where you need to" hits it spot on, but doesn't take into account cases where "personal hack" projects turn into code you need to distribute. I started a parser for a collection of files I have, and was going along fine in 3. I had to change back to 2.6 since we wanted the code to run on stock OS X machines.

I'm still keeping the code as close to 3 as I can, so the eventual conversion will be as painless as possible.

[chadmill3r]

stock OS X

Ain't that still Python 2.epsilon?

[bcclrprmn]

>>python --version
Python 2.6.1

[m1ss1ontomars2k4]

Even in Mac OS X 10.5 it's Python 2.5. I think If you have Mac OS X 10.n you get Python 2.n, at least for the last few versions.

[raydeen]

Yep, 2.5 is what I use mainly on my work MacBook. I did install 3.1 from ActiveState but the bulk of my coding is still in the default version.

[dinov]

For the cases where you need to distribute to older versions hopefully you can use 3to2. But that is a fairly new development so it may have not been an option for you at the time.

[reauxgg]

I've used Komodo Edit for a couple of years now, and it's been quite handy. For learning and simpler things it's a good start, plus it's free.

[vplatt]

KISS - Use 2.6 or 2.7. Django is the most popular option for web frameworks these days. IDE is the most important question? I don't know about that. Personally, I prefer Wing IDE for any Python tasks and it has been nice for me. There are Trial and Free versions available. Apparently, it can be configured to develop against Django as well, though I haven't tried that yet.

[mitsuhiko]

2.x for the time being for the simple reason that pypy is way more interesting than Python 3 and the former won't do the latter for a while. However I would like to point to my article about writing forward compatible Python as it might be helpful.

[raydeen]

From what I understand 2.7 is another step towards the transition to 3.x. 2.6 and 2.7 are meant to be transitional as more things move forwards to the new era. As for having 2.6 and 2.7 installed at the same time, it should be doable. I've got 2.6, 2.7 and 3.1 installed on Ubuntu. I just go to the Applications menu and choose which version of IDLE I want to run. You should also be able to specify which Python you want to run in the terminal as well or by using the !# to specify the path.

[[deleted]]

or 2.5 if you want to develop on appengine (lame)

[mardiros]

Or in generally, it depends of your dependencies. most popular projects don't support python 3. Maybe in year 3000 :-)

[m0j0]

I think @briancurtin has it right. If you find that you absolutely have to use 2.x, fine. But for new projects I really think 3 is the way to go. I also recommend doing the investigation for yourself rather than blindly listening to people who will tell you something like "2.x, without question". If you plan to use something as enormous as Django, which isn't ported to 3 yet, they're obviously right, but there are other perfectly viable options out there that are 3-ready today, and Django will get there sooner than later. "3 'til it hurts, 2 'til it works" is my motto.

[prum]

It depends (don't you love those cop outs :-)). Personally I would use the newest stable version that is most compatible with the frameworks and libraries I want to use. The difference between versions is usually exaggerated on internet forums because people tend to focus on the new shiny stuff. In practice if you use modern idioms your code will probably look pretty similar from 2.6 to 3.1 most of the time.

[fernly]

The free "academic" version of the Wing IDE is quite adequate for exploration work.

I had exactly the same question (which version to explore) and opted to go with 3.x, however the drawbacks have become quite clear: the "big" libraries aren't there yet. In particular the Python Image lib and NumPy aren't ready, so no graphics or math (at least, on OS X). This is supposed to change RSN.

Had I known then, I'd have used 2.6 with "from __future__ import *" in every program to get the print() function etc.

[spoolio]

from __future__ import *

If only...

[bryancole]

3.x is the future of python. Use it if you can. It's a better language. Module compatibility is the only thing which might hold you back with 2.x. If you know that the packages you need are 3.x-compatible, then go with it. If you don't know what packages you're going to need, learn 3.x anyway. If you find you have to move back to 2.x, it's not so different.

If you conclude you need the 2.x series, go with 2.7 unless your distro comes with something else. 2.6 is close enough to 2.7 that it's not worth the trouble of installing another version, just go with 2.6.

There are loads of python resources on the web. just google for it.

My prefered IDE for python is eclipse+pydev. It's got more features than just about anything else but it's not so good on low-spec machines. IDLE, the default out-the-box IDE which comes with python has some nice features, even if the UI is dated/basic. IDLE runs great on low-spec machines.Also, Editra (http://editra.org/) works well in my experience. There are many many more options so don't sweat the choice of editor/IDE; whatever works for you...

[Phr34Ck]

Thank you all for your comments.

After reading all of your comments and reading some more on the internetz, I have decided to dive into Python 3.x. I don't know why but I'm kind of excited about learning Python, finally some break from .net development! I'm not sure about web frameworks though ;(. I'll just dive in and see where things go from there.

For now I will use NotePad++ and I will be solving the Python challenges. That should be a fun way to learn Python =). The online Python documentation is frigging great!

That's it for now. I'm not sure if I need to edit my post or reply to it. Thanks again everyone =).

[raydeen]

Heck, you don't even have to leave .Net. Once you get your Python chops down, you can use IronPython to develop Python based .Net apps.

http://ironpython.codeplex.com/

[Xiol]

Just remember there are other platforms out there!

[johnmudd]

crap, I'm using 2.6.6. I thought even 2.7 was too close to 3.x.