Hi, I am a long time reader, first time submitting. I'm a bit confused with my current situation, I would be very grateful if you guys could give me a few pointers. I am not so experienced as most of you here, but i've mostly picked up stuff I'm interested in quite well and easily.

My primary interest is network programming. I have done quite a bit of reading and experimenting and am familiar with mechanisms of most protocols. Now I want to start writing code. I read introductory stuff on python and grasped it well too. I had just started playing with the python modules, when I met somebody(with a tall reputation) at the local lug meeting who told me that I could always learn python very easily later but C was the language I must know, specially given my interest on network programming. I did some research and thought maybe the guy is right. So I've been with a k&r for 4 weeks now. It didn't intimidate me but I am progressing very very slowly and maybe that's why also slacking a bit. I am posting this because I'm at the stage where it's even worrying me now. I'm always thinking that in python i could be building stuff right now. I know python won't teach me low level things like memory management etc, but my progress is pain-stakingly slow in C.

Question: Should I continue battling with C like i'm now and write some working code in it or switch to python where i'll be at a bit more ease? Will a high level language spoil me too much to come back to C later?