[Edu-sig] The fate of raw_input() in Python 3000

[Toby Donaldson]

> > I've been watching this discussion and wondering - how much of the
> > problems
> > people complain about would go away if here was a "teaching"
> distribution
> > of
> > python. That is one that did the equivalent of
> >
> > from teaching import *
>
> Nowadays, college students want to do "real programming". You call a
> language 'teaching' - you loose. I actually have to work hard to
> convince my students that Python is not just a teaching language, but a
> language for real work. I show them various rankings based on use,
> salaries, jobs, etc.
>
> A great thing about Python is that it is popular in commercial projects
> and at the same time, you can teach beginners with it. IMHO, this is one
> of the most distinguishing features of Python in comparison to other
> languages
>
> > from teaching import *
>
> This will immediately create two difficulties.
> 1. You implicitly declare to your students you are not dealing with
> "real programming".
> 2. You most likely have to tell your entry-level students that you
> cannot explain what the above thing means, but you will tell them later.
> People switch form Java to Python to *avoid* this kind of situations.

What if instead of naming the package "teaching", it was called
something less offensive, like "simpleIO" or "userinput" or
"interactive" or "convenience"?

Toby
-- 
Dr. Toby Donaldson
School of Computing Science
Simon Fraser University (Surrey)