[Edu-sig] Top 5 All Time Novice Obstacles => #3 Where am I ?

[Jason Cunliffe]

> For a refreshing change of pace I would like to agree with Guidio. It seems

.. I am so glad. My rants then have not been totally in vain ;-)

> to me that Jason you come to the table with too many expectations (maybe
> from your Rebol experience) of how a help system "should" work, rather than
> spending the energy focusing on learning how the Python help system does
> work.. And I would agree with Guido, once that (minor) effort is

Yes a good point. But people _do_ come with other expectations and habits. Some
of them quite good ones too. I am actively learning Actionscript[MX], REBOL,
Python, CGI and XSLT at the moment on Windows and Linux, trying stuff out daily
on a Win98se laptop and 3 remote servers. In addtion to scripting work, I use
easily half a dozen multimedia apps daily. Philosphically yours is good advice.
Culturally, technically, I have chosen to embrace this diversity, or else I
shold focus strongly on one, such as Python.

I agree if I did, that I might learn faster and develop deeper skills in it. But
my chosen path is "multi" - "media"  and how to connect ideas and techniques
from different sources.

> made, all your expectations and more, from that point on, look like they
> will be met.

I am sorry. I flogged the horse too long, giving the unbalanced impression it
was about me, becuae I wanted to offer subjecitive examples from the Python
prompt. Not easy.
Mostly because we lack better feedback from others [novices and teachers]

> And I would generalize that further.  Have more confidence in Python. But
> fewer expectations coming in.

I do... and yes it's good advice at any time of day!

Happy Equinox and Harvest full moon to you all

thanks
./Jason