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

[Radenski, Atanas]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: edu-sig-bounces at python.org [mailto:edu-sig-bounces at python.org] 
> On Behalf Of Toby Donaldson

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

This is a plausible way to remove the 'teaching' label. I would prefer
'stdin'. 

Now imagine a beginner who is looking at her very first Python program.
The first line she will see in her first program ever will be this:

from stdin import *

This person and her instructor will have to deal with modules and import
FIRST, although the student is not likely to develop multi-modular
programs at the very beginning. 

I wonder how is the instructor going to tell her what is the meaning of
'from stdin import *'? I guess, in the same way instructors tell what
'public static void main (...) is'. In this way we are going to the Java
nonsense (nonsense from the perspective of teaching beginners, of
course, otherwise Java is a wonderful language).

This discussion is difficult because people speak form tow different
perspective: the teacher's perspective vs the developer's. 

In this thread I have a teacher's perspective. I would like to see
Python keep, rather than loose its edge as a beginner's language. John
Zelle explained what that means very well - several times in this thread
only.

Let us have more teachers teach Python, and more beginners study and
enjoy it. Then we will probably have more Python developers as well.

> Toby

Atanas