After years in the shadows, the open source Python programming language is becoming increasingly mainstream. There are more users and more tools. Backers of Python now argue that Python is ready for the enterprise.

"The 2010 Workshop on Scheme and Functional Programming provides a forum for discussing experience with and future development of the Scheme programming language. The scope of the workshop includes all aspects of the design, implementation, theory, and application of Scheme. We encourage everyone interested in Scheme to participate..."

"Here is a post of the history of some functional features in Python. It is not exhaustive, but it is interesting to hear the author’s take on things." -- via Wisdom and Wonder

Often it is difficult to make the transition from procedural scripting to object-oriented programming. This article explores how to reuse knowledge from PHP, Bash, or Python scripting to transition to object-oriented programming in Python. The article also briefly touches on the appropriate use of functional programming.

"...Sketchy LISP presents an overview of the Scheme programming language with strong emphasis on functional programming. Language elements and programming techniques are explained by means of simple examples which are used to form more complex programs..." --

"Tim Bray’s guesses on the next big thing(s): Green computing; Atom and REST; Ruby and Python; AJAX; Jabber as transport protocol; functional programming (but not Erlang). Aren’t at least 3 of these already the current big thing?" " (via sediment.semifat.net)

So what does python have to offer? It is a nice mix of procedural programming, object oriented and functional. That is what I love about it. It allows you to work in a mix of all three. It also seems that it is made by a bunch of people that understand that while flexibility is important (Perl code) you have to be able to READ and UNDERSTAND something written by another human being.

"I just read the post: Rail Spikes: Functional programming and looping by Jon. It's a nice post, and I completely agree - you should never write for/while/do-while loops.

After describing the nature and importance of source code for business-oriented readers, the case is made for learning programming with Python. A plethora of free on-line resources for getting started programming in Python are provided.