Jez is having a play with Python.

He's not getting on with Dive Into Python. Well, I learned from Instant Python, and from the Python Tutorial which comes with the distribution. The first is a very quick overview, and the second is as in-depth as you could ask. Give these a bash, Jez, and see how you get on.

I liked the look of Dive Into Python, I must say, but when I used it as the basis for teaching some Python in-house, I found that it didn't really fit my brain. It introduced things in what seemed a strange order to me - list comprehensions before loops, for example. Maybe that's just me, though - I have no history with functional programming.

Other good resources - well, never forget comp.lang.python, also available as the Python-list. The Python community is one of its major assets. Also, the Python Cookbook is a great source of examples and snippets.

If you find you like it (and you will) and you want some dead tree material, I'd recommend Python in a Nutshell as a reference, and the book version of the Python Cookbook to get a bit of Python Zen.

Speaking of which - try import this from a Python interpretor.

There, that's more than enough to get you started...