--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/symbian-qemu-0.9.1-12/python-2.6.1/Doc/tutorial/appetite.rst	Fri Jul 31 15:01:17 2009 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+.. _tut-intro:
+
+**********************
+Whetting Your Appetite
+**********************
+
+If you do much work on computers, eventually you find that there's some task
+you'd like to automate.  For example, you may wish to perform a
+search-and-replace over a large number of text files, or rename and rearrange a
+bunch of photo files in a complicated way. Perhaps you'd like to write a small
+custom database, or a specialized GUI application, or a simple game.
+
+If you're a professional software developer, you may have to work with several
+C/C++/Java libraries but find the usual write/compile/test/re-compile cycle is
+too slow.  Perhaps you're writing a test suite for such a library and find
+writing the testing code a tedious task.  Or maybe you've written a program that
+could use an extension language, and you don't want to design and implement a
+whole new language for your application.
+
+Python is just the language for you.
+
+You could write a Unix shell script or Windows batch files for some of these
+tasks, but shell scripts are best at moving around files and changing text data,
+not well-suited for GUI applications or games. You could write a C/C++/Java
+program, but it can take a lot of development time to get even a first-draft
+program.  Python is simpler to use, available on Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix
+operating systems, and will help you get the job done more quickly.
+
+Python is simple to use, but it is a real programming language, offering much
+more structure and support for large programs than shell scripts or batch files
+can offer.  On the other hand, Python also offers much more error checking than
+C, and, being a *very-high-level language*, it has high-level data types built
+in, such as flexible arrays and dictionaries.  Because of its more general data
+types Python is applicable to a much larger problem domain than Awk or even
+Perl, yet many things are at least as easy in Python as in those languages.
+
+Python allows you to split your program into modules that can be reused in other
+Python programs.  It comes with a large collection of standard modules that you
+can use as the basis of your programs --- or as examples to start learning to
+program in Python.  Some of these modules provide things like file I/O, system
+calls, sockets, and even interfaces to graphical user interface toolkits like
+Tk.
+
+Python is an interpreted language, which can save you considerable time during
+program development because no compilation and linking is necessary.  The
+interpreter can be used interactively, which makes it easy to experiment with
+features of the language, to write throw-away programs, or to test functions
+during bottom-up program development. It is also a handy desk calculator.
+
+Python enables programs to be written compactly and readably.  Programs written
+in Python are typically much shorter than equivalent C,  C++, or Java programs,
+for several reasons:
+
+* the high-level data types allow you to express complex operations in a single
+  statement;
+
+* statement grouping is done by indentation instead of beginning and ending
+  brackets;
+
+* no variable or argument declarations are necessary.
+
+Python is *extensible*: if you know how to program in C it is easy to add a new
+built-in function or module to the interpreter, either to perform critical
+operations at maximum speed, or to link Python programs to libraries that may
+only be available in binary form (such as a vendor-specific graphics library).
+Once you are really hooked, you can link the Python interpreter into an
+application written in C and use it as an extension or command language for that
+application.
+
+By the way, the language is named after the BBC show "Monty Python's Flying
+Circus" and has nothing to do with reptiles.  Making references to Monty
+Python skits in documentation is not only allowed, it is encouraged!
+
+Now that you are all excited about Python, you'll want to examine it in some
+more detail.  Since the best way to learn a language is to use it, the tutorial
+invites you to play with the Python interpreter as you read.
+
+In the next chapter, the mechanics of using the interpreter are explained.  This
+is rather mundane information, but essential for trying out the examples shown
+later.
+
+The rest of the tutorial introduces various features of the Python language and
+system through examples, beginning with simple expressions, statements and data
+types, through functions and modules, and finally touching upon advanced
+concepts like exceptions and user-defined classes.
+
+