<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Hi everyone. This is my first post to the list but I have been reading through the archives before joining. <div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Python is now the most popular programming language in UK schools in 11-18 age group with something like 80% of GCSE Computer Science students now submitting code for these exams (at age 16) in Python.<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I have a love of Python and IDLE similar to that described by Al Sweigart in his talk on re-imagining IDLE for education:</div><div class=""><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u58DiW_t2lM" class="">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u58DiW_t2lM</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I have a similar background in that I write some books (<a href="http://codingclub.co.uk" class="">codingclub.co.uk</a>) teaching Python as a first programming language (usually after experiencing Scratch). My, very short, books are primarily aimed at 10-14 year old and try to provide the foundations for students going on to GCSE. I have very similar experiences to Al in my post bag. In addition, as an 11-18 year old teacher I run Code Clubs and teach Python more formally in school. I see first hand the difficulties these young, average ability (as CS is now compulsory for all students in the UK) students have starting their first text based programming language. I also have one unusual quality for a programmer that loves coding - I find it pretty difficult. This enables me to empathise with these students. (Explanation - I am actually a Chemistry teacher whose long-standing hobby has taken off in the last few years.)</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">In my opinion, as a self-taught Java programmer who has since looked at many other languages, Python 3 is by far the best language to introduce text based programming that is currently available. As Al mentioned in his talk, the easy start up, the clear syntax and the lack of semi-colons and curly brackets, the easy install on all major platforms and then immediately having the well-chosen standard library available is awesome.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">It is no surprise therefore that school children in the UK and increasingly around the world are being asked to learn Python. I think they therefore deserve, in addition to the best language, a fantastic IDE. Currently in my opinion IDLE is the best for Python teaching as it is so clean and code focussed. Nothing is perfect though and so I am in agreement with Al (and it was why I first started reading this list) that it would be fantastic if IDLE could be re-imagined with solely beginners in mind. I hope I will be able to contribute positively if this idea is taken further. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">It will be a tough call to provide the best IDE for beginners as there are so many fantastic developments currently being undertaken. Al points to Scratch and Code Academy. I would add one other example to Al’s list of developments we could learn from - Greenfoot is currently being re-imagined here: <a href="http://www.greenfoot.org/frames/" class="">http://www.greenfoot.org/frames/</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Best wishes</div><div class="">Chris Roffey</div></div></body></html>