[CentralOH] Why Python?

Peter Carswell pcarswell.1 at gmail.com
Mon Oct 13 17:00:15 CEST 2014


One of the reasons we are investigating Ruby is its affiliation with
Cucumber and ATDD, Automated Testing. My initial investigation shows
Cucumber also ports Python. I have to investigate more on this. I do know
that many of the major local companies support Ruby/Cucumber and companies,
Manifest Solutions in particular, are training companies to use
Ruby/Cucumber. So, the discussion continues.

pete

On Mon, Oct 13, 2014 at 8:39 AM, <davelist at mac.com> wrote:

>
> On Oct 11, 2014, at 10:05 AM, Eric Floehr <eric at intellovations.com> wrote:
>
> > At the last meeting Pete Carswell asked me for help in supporting his
> goal of wanting Python as the introductory language taught at CSCC, and
> specifically to contrast it against Ruby, which is being pushed there. I
> thought that I would share my response with everyone.
> >
> > This is not meant as a negative for any other language (like Ruby, or
> even Perl). Every person has their own reasons for selecting a particular
> technology and I applaud that. I've written programs for money in Perl,
> Ruby, PHP, Microsoft C++, etc. These are simply data points to support why
> Python is a good choice for an introductory programming course.
> >
> >
> > ACM: Python is now the most popular introductory teaching language at
> top U.S. universities
> >
> http://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/176450-python-is-now-the-most-popular-introductory-teaching-language-at-top-us-universities/fulltext
> >
> > Why I push for Python
> > http://lorenabarba.com/blog/why-i-push-for-python/
> >
> > Python is asked for by more employers
> > http://www.indeed.com/jobanalytics/jobtrends?q=python%2Cruby&l=
> >
> > Python is asked for by more startups
> > (today: 1854 jobs ask for Python, 915 Ruby, 1232 javascript, 2002 java)
> > http://www.startuphire.com/
> >
> > TIOBE Index
> > http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/cont
>
> > ent/paperinfo/tpci/index.html
> >
> > Five programming languages marked for death (dice.com)
> > http://news.dice.com/2014/10/09/5-programming-languages-marked-for-death
> > (definitely just one man's opinion, but those language are Perl, Ruby,
> VisualBasic.NET, Adobe Flash and Air, Delphi's Object Pascal)
>
>
> From a pedagogical standpoint, I like the fact that Python’s syntax is
> simpler/cleaner than Ruby's (disclaimer: I’m not very fluent in Ruby, but
> it appears to me Ruby is both more terse and uses more special symbols
> making it a little more challenging for beginners). Python allows us to
> spend more time on problem solving and less time on syntax issues.
>
> John Zelle’s site has some more links (although less current as he started
> using Python over a decade ago). Disclaimer I use John’s book in my CS1
> course at Capital University and co-authored a Python/C++ book with John
> that we use in our CS2 course.
>
> http://mcsp.wartburg.edu/zelle/python/
>
> Dave Reed
>
>
>
>
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