[Edu-sig] Re: Programming for the fun of it

[Kirby Urner]

Thinking more about Dethe's question (why learn programming
at all?), I'm reminded of my 2nd post ever to this list
in February: 

http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/2000-February/000011.html

The gist of it is:  this "object oriented" way of thinking
about complicated systems is powerful in its own right. 
Having a computer language at your elbow which structures
your thinking in this way has the potential to improve your
analytical powers more generally.

I suppose that'll sound like empty hype to some ears (plus 
it's a point essentially already covered, in broad brush
strokes, by Dethe's already-given reasons).  What keeps 
it from drifting up to the buzzword level (the rarified 
heights of close-to-nonsense) is Python itself, or some 
other language that clearly manifests OOP.  

Clearly, in microcosm, the OO way of programming has a 
lot of power and appeal -- and you get first-hand, up 
close experience with this by actually learning an 
OOP-style langauge (again, not only Python fits the bill,
but certainly Python fits it admirably).

Kirby