[python-advocacy] easy as py

[Dorai Thodla]

How about picking a set of examples from a book ? Either "Software Tools" or
"Java in a Nutshell"? We already have those examples. It was written by
experts. We just provide the Python equivalents!

Dorai

On 7/20/07, Tal Einat <taleinat at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 7/20/07, Mike Pittaro <mikeyp at snaplogic.org> wrote:
> > Carl Karsten wrote:
> > > One thing that I think would help people 'ease into Python' is the
> fact that
> > > python without the batteries (modules) is only like 25 commands and
> functions.
> > > and 1/2 of those aren't even needed 'at first.'  I'm guessing you can
> hit the
> > > RoI level most people want by looking over about 10 python keywords
> and some
> > > list/dict notation.  you don't even need to execute it, just see it,
> read it,
> > > understand it.
> > >
> > > I am thinking we need about 10 - 20 little snippits like this:
> > >
> > >  >>> for x in [1,7,'abc',4]: print x,
> > > 1 7 abc 4
> > >
> > > The above has some important features I find subtle, like the fact
> that to
> > > traverse a list, you don't need to A) determine the length, B) use
> that length
> > > as the upper limit of a for loop, C) use the loop counter as an index
> into the
> > > list.  granted other languages have FOR EACH which is similar, python
> seems to
> > > ... um... use lists more intelligently?   (hmm... I have a concept in
> my head,
> > > but I am having trouble putting it to words.  may not be important,
> cuz readers
> > > of this list probably know what I am talking about.)  Python makes
> very
> > > efficient use of a small command set.
> > >
> > > So I would like to collect a "one page" set of snippits.  guessing a
> wiki page
> > > would be good for this.
> >
> > >
> > Along these lines, I dealt with a similar problem in the past,
> converting people to different 'dialects' of SQL.
> > The method that seemed to be most successful was a side by side 'cheat
> sheet' mapping of commands in the different dialects.
> >
> > If we collected a set of snippets, demonstrating simple and common
> operations in a few languages along side of  Python snippets, it might help
> people that already know another language.
> >
> > Of course, we have to make those examples realistic, and not create (too
> much of) a debate over which language implements the idiom better :-)
> >
>
> Something somewhat similar, perhaps a good place for some initial
> examples:
> http://pleac.sourceforge.net/
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-- 
Dorai Thodla
www.thodla.com
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