[ale] Python questions

[Chris Fowler]

I'm looking at writing some of our code in python so I can have some
true OOP goodness.  I've built the latest and installed it but am having
issues getting started.  For starters I'm use to the perl module
system.  If I need a module I'll go get it with CPAN.  With python I
have to download it from one of many sites and manually build and
install.  I'm having difficulty getting the MySQL module to compile
because of my unique setup on my machine.  Is there a better way? Should
I just use OOP the best I can in Perl and forget the python?

What would be the benefit of Python over Perl for writing basically
scripts that do everything.  My programs are the backend agents for a
J2EE application.  The gather data, notify technicians, etc.  J2EE is
only used for the presentation of that data.