Python - a comparison with C

Here you go..: http://blog.marcelotoledo.org/2007/08/10/how-to-write-a-spelling-corrector/

Here a spelling checker is implemented in Python and C. Python code is just 21 lines and C code is almost 190 lines. But for big dictionaries, C code performance is much better compared to Python version.

Python programming in Windows

You can try Python programming in windows. It will be really useful for students started learning programming. I dont have much experience in Python. But seems like easy programming compared to C/C++ - not much syntax, extensive ADTs, a lot of useful libraries.

You can use Python in different ways - as a good programming language or scripting language.
The best thing is we can use python code embedded in to C/C++ code. You will get more information about this from here: http://www.python.org/doc/2.5.2/ext/contents.html

You can install Python in your windows machine by downloading windows installer for Python and windows extensions. More information here: http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~ggbaker/reference/modeling/wininstall