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Hi,
I started with python a while ago, but i didn't keep up...
Now i want to turn back to it, it was my second language (after some BASIC :D) do you recommend me to keep up with it?
I want it for pen testing, vuln. assesment, and maybe writing security apps.
--Thanks
Hey Hey,
I definately recommend it as a first language.... I use it quite extensively and it's great :)
If ya have any questions just ask.
Peace,
HT
Thanks
I don't know, Python is a little sensitive when it comes to whitespace, isn't it?
I myself prefer Java or C++; I'm old school like that.
Python is an excellent first programming language!!
It's also a great "glue" language to be used by seasoned pros.
Python is easy to read, easy to program and is object oriented and can easily do a ton of stuff with very little code.
If you want to see something significant written in Python, go to EVE online website (Space game). Somewhere on their website they report they use Stackless Python in EVE.
Stackless Python is an advanced Python, which avoids programming the "stack" which is highly used in the C Language.
Java?!?!?!... Java is like death... It was a mistake from the get go and is still a mistake... Python isn't "a little sensitive" about whitespace... it's a whitespace language... meaning you don't include code in curly braces, brackets or parentheses. It's much nicer to work with.. whitespace should be used in every language, it makes it much more readable.. It's also not some horrid requirement like the semi-colon in C++ or the endless stream of document.writeline.whatever garbage in Java...Quote:
Originally posted here by Arkimedes
I don't know, Python is a little sensitive when it comes to whitespace, isn't it?
I myself prefer Java or C++; I'm old school like that.
With Python you really couldn't ask for much more.. it's widely used, extremely powerful.. etc etc...
I've got a few recent posts on things I've done with Python on www.computerdefense.org... I've also got several Tutorials here on AO regarding python... I'm in the process of writing another post on Porting Perl to Python and using how easy it is to detect something (or should be) using Python.. I may provide the link when I write it..
Peace,
HT
I would also recommend Perl to go along with Python, to me I find them to be about the same. I love Python though it very flexible.
I seem to agree with Viral on something. Python is a nice language never put more than the time to read about it in books. But, I don't diss it. I say pick whatever language you feel will keep you from throwing your computer out the window. Because in the end everyone will one day want to take a hammer to there computer after a night full of coding.
Perl however is a good language to mess with. I personally recommened it. I would say that if you are going to program choose one of the two. Either Python or Perl or whatever. One of the common mistakes I see people starting out in programming doing is trying on too many languages at one time. This creates one big problem. Languages start to smear together.
LOL your so right House, when I first started off I couldn't decide which language to start off with and I was going
nuts trying to differentiate all of them. So I started off with basic, then moved to Perl/Python, later C and C++. If your serious about programming though I have heard that it is sort of like being a linguist and that you should know as many languages as you can but focus on one at a time.
Here are some links to get you started if you haven't already bookmarked them.
www.programmersheaven.com
www.code.box.sk
www.hotscripts.com
www.perlmonks.org
www.perl.org
www.thefreecountry.com
www.programmingtutorials.com
www.cprogramming.com
www.good-tutorials.com
www.w3schools.com
Those should get you started in the right direction, they sure did for me. Good Luck.
-Viral
Thanks for the advice guys :)
Let me just chime in and say that I highly recommend you continue with Python. From my experience as well as what I've heard from others, it's an excellent language. It's powerful, clean, simple, easy to learn, and object oriented. Although I haven't done enough Python coding to be able to assure you of this myself, I've had several very knowledgeable coders tell me that Python is a very "natural" language to write in.
"Sensitive" wouldn't be the right word. Python uses whitespace instead of curly braces to separate blocks of code. For instance, take the following C snippet:Quote:
I don't know, Python is a little sensitive when it comes to whitespace, isn't it?
In Python, it would be written:Code:if (1) {
printf("Hi");
}
And the interpreter knows the block ends as soon as the lines of code cease to be indented. The same holds true for functions, loop, etc.Code:if 1:
print "Hi"
As far as learning Perl and Python, I think if you can get Python down Perl isn't necessary. From the perspective of languages to help you learn more about security as well as coding in general, a good language to go for after Python would probably be C. Python will teach you enough to be able to get through C fairly easily, but there are a lot of reasons you might want to know C in addition to Python, not the least of which is that it's very useful in the security field.
Finally, don't forget to check out the official Python documentation for great tutorials and the likes.