[Edu-sig] Re: The right learning environment

[Kirby Urner]

At 01:40 PM 3/19/2002 -0500, Matthias Felleisen wrote:

>    If the language offers a shell, one should also use the shell,
>    without even a text editor.  Entering 1+1 to get 2 is even more
>    basic than 'Hello World'.  The command line just sits there,
>    waiting to give immediate feedback.  Some people don't discover
>    this about Python until late in the game, and I think that's a
>    pity.  I like that Guido's tutorial starts with 'using Python
>    as a calculator'.
>
>And how exactly does DrScheme differ? -- Matthias

DrScheme does not differ at all in this respect.

  > (+ 1 1)
  2

is isomorphic to Python's

  >>> 1 + 1
  2

DrScheme and Python both have shell environments and this is
where to start with newbies IMO, engaging in simple
calculator-style dialog in order to learn the grammar
of the language (either one).

Writing chunks of code, then saving these chunks for later
retrieval, would be subsequent steps (in either environment).

Kirby