[Edu-sig] Using IDLE with students

[Richard Guenther]

Sorry if this is a bit simplistic:

When teaching Python to beginners and using IDLE, it seems that one of the dangers would be to have them assigning variables in the interactive mode and then maybe using them in a script they're writing.  Then, when they run the script, the variable is still in memory so the program works--for now.  

Or, as happened recently "raw_input" gets accidentally assigned to a string.  Then, any programs that end with "raw_input("Press Enter to exit this program")" will cause an error, even though the program script itself is fine.


Obviously quiting and reloading IDLE will take care of this, but I was wondering what else may trip up students using IDLE.  Maybe it would be nice if IDLE had an option called "Run fresh" that would clear any variables first....just musing here.

Thanks,
Richard





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