i'm not really the panty-blogging type of internet folk, but i recently have been consumed by a weird and all abiding bizarre love for a type of underwear, so much that so that i am actually motivated to write about it on the internets, because OTHER LADIES MUST KNOW ABOUT THE FABULOUSNESS of this underwear.

they are the ultra low pure cotton hipster from gap. they are comfy, flattering, low-rise enough such that they don't peek out over your jeans and, most importantly, cheap. so. yeah. there's my undewear recommendation of the day. go forth and purchase.

cannot believe am writing about underwear on the internet.

Alright, let's get things started — or at least planned. As I mentioned in a previous entry and in comments, I'm going to try to put together a concise set of posts aimed at getting users with no programming knowledge up to speed at doing cool things on and to the internet. I'm hoping to end up with something that would've suited my fourteen year-old self perfectly. This post will outline what I intend to do and why I'm going to do it. It'll ramble on for a bit, but the actual tutorial is going to be as concise and clear as I can make it.

I'm going to do this in Python, mostly because I don't know the language and would like an excuse to learn it. But there are non-selfish reasons for the choice, too:

It's So Hot Right Now

Google loves Python. Adrian Holovaty loves Python. Everyone loves Python. It's not the only trendy language at the moment (see also: Ruby, C#). But rest assured, there are tech managers out there right now who would be impressed to see Python on your resume (frequently despite not actually knowing what it is).

It's Cross-Platform

There are good implementations for OS X, Windows and Linux. You should, in theory, be able to take a program from one platform to the other and have it Just Work. And there are tools available for each that'll let you produce native standalone applications, letting you run your programs on computers where Python isn't installed.

It's Got The Most Dirty-Joke-Friendly Name Of Any Programming Language

Taking the crown from LISP, I suppose.

There's one big downside, though, that's worth pointing out:

It Uses Weird Syntax

Many languages have adopted a syntax similar to what's used in the C programming language. You could look at a Java, C++, C#, ECMAScript or even Perl snippet of code and not be able to tell what language it was written in. That's not the case with Python — unlike those other languages, it relies on whitespace (e.g. tabs, spaces and line breaks) to determine how things work. That's unusual, and it means you'll probably have a slightly harder time learning your second programming language if Python is your first.

Here's the outline I've got in mind:

1. Installing Python And Making Sure It Works


2. Variables, Control Structures And Functions


3. Regular Expressions and File Input/Output


4. Interacting With Websites


5. Putting It All Together To Do Something Cool

Finally, I should note that there are a ton of other Python tutorials out there — I haven't completely gone through Mark Pilgrim's Dive Into Python, but if it's as good as his GreaseMonkey book, I can highly recommend it. When things don't make sense or you want to go in a new direction, you should look through some of the material linked from python.org. This will almost certainly not end up being the best tutorial out there; my hope is just that it'll be one of the most pragmatic. And, of course, we can deal with questions in the comment sections.

that's right, folks: the two articles i wrote last week for my legal affairs reporting class? the two genius pieces on samuel alito? they were sent out over the wire to our client papers and i received the honor of being published in the...(wait for it)

NORTHWEST INDIANA TIMES!

literally dozens of people have now read my name in print! HOORAH.