Zed Shaw is Writing A Book Teaching Beginner Python
"If a programmer tells you to use vim or emacs tell them no. These editors are for when you are a better programmer. All you need right now is an editor that lets you put text into a file."Ha!  When I started to program, everyone told me the opposite.  After weeks of head scratching and spending more time learning editors than coding, I secretly switched to Pico.  But man could I use the hell out of Pico.