One of my Twitter friends has made me curious about the Django web application framework. This basically sits on top of Python to make it easier to develop applications for the web. I decided to check into it myself. The first thing I have learned is that the documentation available for free is really amazing. I’m going through the free book right now, and learning tons along the way. I actually have an Associate’s Degree in programming, but, honestly, I don’t know any language well. I do have the basic concepts of programming down for the most part. I have been able to follow along with very little trouble. The comment system that is built into the book in which there is comment space for each paragraph is elegant and functional. It’s a major asset in a tight spot.

The book aside, the second thing I have learned is that I should really have started with Python. Alas, because of the way I stumbled into this thing, I didn’t really have any idea where to start. Since I’m not really having trouble with the book yet, I’m going to keep going with it. I figure I’ll go back and pick up the Python later.

The third thing I have learned is that there are quite a few options for Mac text editors. I did some research on my own and begged on Twitter for suggestions. I tried Textmate first. The editor is very nice, but I hate the idea of paying for software—especially paying $63 for software. The fact that it is merely a text editor makes the cost seem that much more outlandish. I will have to say, though. that the code highlighting in this package seems much better than anything else although I can’t pinpoint why. On recommendation from another Twitter friend, I tried SubEthaEdit. I thought the sharing aspects were totally cool. The only problem is that I have no friends… at least no friends that are going to collaborate with me on coding projects. I only wish that wasn’t the case. The icon was the very coolest. I love those little green men holding the pencil. The price was a little more reasonable than Textmate at $43.50, but it still makes me cringe. Obviously, if Textmate and SubEthaEdit were too expensive, BBEdit was merely sadistic humor as best I could decipher. I’m sorry, but I will not pay more than two GTA IVs to edit text no matter how awesome the featureset—and it really does have lots of cool features I would love to use! Despite the lack of even an inkling of a possibility that I would ever shell out for BBEdit, it did lead me to exactly what I wanted: a simple and free text-editor with code highlighting. I’ve been using TextWrangler all day to run through the tutorials in the Django book. I’m not a huge fan of the way it handles multiple documents (I would much prefer tabs to a drop-down.), and the highlighting, while functional, isn’t quite as good as Textmate. Outside those minor complaints, this is exactly what I needed. If you’re a Mac user and do any coding, I highly recommend you try it before shelling out for one of the other text-editing juggernauts.

So, I’m off to learn some more. While we’re at it, does anyone have any suggestions for some good basic Python tutorials?