[Edu-sig] New edu-sig page: first draft completed

David MacQuigg macquigg at ece.arizona.edu
Thu Apr 16 02:45:14 CEST 2009


Hi Andre,

Nice work.  I have two suggestions, and a few minor edits.

On the choice between Python 2 and 3, I would say teach both, but limit the Python 2 syntax to your specific needs.  Most students will see the print statement as the only difference, and learning both is not much burden, particularly if we make it an object lesson in not painting yourself into a corner with an inflexible initial design, which breaks backward compatibility when the enhancements to the original syntax get to be too much.

On the use of a terminal window instead of IDLE, I can't see any advantage, except in a few very special situations, like when I am editing a program that uses tkinter, and there is a conflict between the program and IDLE, so I edit in IDLE and run from the terminal window.  Those situations can be dealt with in whatever help file is guiding the student in each situation.  I don't see any need to say "if you like programming directly from a terminal window".

Here are some suggested minor edits:
prefer to rely on --> prefer to have
If you are among this group, you might --> You might
The purpose of this section ... but to focus only --> Here we will focus only
potential interests for educators --> potential interest to educators
The following may be of interest for children, --> For children,
and get independent feedback --> and get immediate feedback
much fewer people --> many fewer people
much fewer free software --> much less free software
for making game: --> for making games:

-- Dave



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