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

[kirby urner]

On 9/8/06, Radenski, Atanas <radenski at chapman.edu> wrote:

> You are obviously way more intelligent than the average student whom we need to teach. > Our job is to teach Python programming to anyone who may happen to be in our
> classes. What is good for you may not be good for ordinary beginners. Ordinary mortals > usually do not find the meaning of life in the beausty of import statements :-)

Ordinary mortals should.  I don't like pandering to beginners, dumbing
it all down for their sake.  Arthur, a paradigm beginner at one point
(an articulate one though) made it clear that *he* doesn't want
dumbing down "to make it easier for newbies" either.  He *hates* being
condescended to (and I appreciate that).

So I, for my part, as a teacher (professionally, I get paid), do NOT
regard it as my job to dilute Python to whatever extent necessary.  I
talk about namespaces immediately, on the very first day, as I've
chronicled in this archive.  Teachers who don't:  I compete with them,
I say "here, you learn Kung Fu, there, they treat you like you'll
never have skills."

> > I think the professors are very wrong here.
>
> May be there are, or may be they are not.
>
> > Art
>
> Atanas

And I *certainly* champion the right to take issue with "professors"
even within their realm of maximum expertise (teaching, supposedly,
but we many times discover otherwise).

Kirby