Moving into the light?

A long time since my last post. Aside from bread-and-butter stuff, my activity has been on Python. There have been various upheavals in the business, and we aquired a Python 2 course. It wasn't too hot, and needed updating. Around the end of 2008 Python 3 was released, so I decided it would make sense to create a new course based on Python 3.

That is almost finished, but it turns out that it might have been premature, since no one seems to be in a particular hurry to move to Py3. That's a shame, because I am quite impressed. There have been issues, performance has been one of them (although I can't say I noticed any problems). In June 2009 a new version, 3.1, should be released, and that has a number of new features. So, having done all that work on a new course, I will have to hack it again come June. That's the problem with the bleading edge.

I have read of Python's ease of use, and never really believed it. After all, there are so many vested interests and religious wars that it is difficult to get a balanced view. I have to say that, after a little practice, Python is very easy to pickup. I have found myself just coding. The number of times I have to look something up gets less and less. I'm not sure I am fluent yet, but I'm close, and I reckon that is the fastest I have ever picked up another language.

Will Perl 6 be as easy?