[New-bugs-announce] [issue9362] Make exit/quit hint more novice friendly

[Alexander Belopolsky]

New submission from Alexander Belopolsky <belopolsky at users.sourceforge.net>:

This bikeshed have been repainted several times already, but here is a true story.

Cast:

Me = myself
Novice = a 14-year-old boy
Laptop = a MacBook Air

Novice: How do i exit [from python prompt]?
Me: What's your best guess?
Novice: [typing] exit [pressing Enter]
Laptop: Use exit() or Ctrl-D (i.e. EOF) to exit
Novice: [typing] Ctrl...
Me: OMG, you don't know what Ctrl-D means?  Look for the Ctrl key.
Novice: There is no such key.
    --- curtains ---

I suggest changing

Use exit() or Ctrl-D (i.e. EOF) to exit

 to 

Type exit() or quit() and press the Enter key to exit

  or

Type exit() or quit() and press Enter to exit

 or just

Use exit() to exit

My theory is that someone who knows what EOF is, will probably already know how to exit from common terminal oriented programs and Ctrl-D is not universally bound to EOF.

TOOWTDI: two ways to exit is more than enough to teach a novice.

----------
assignee: docs at python
components: Documentation
keywords: easy
messages: 111374
nosy: belopolsky, docs at python
priority: normal
severity: normal
status: open
title: Make exit/quit hint more novice friendly
type: feature request
versions: Python 3.2

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Python tracker <report at bugs.python.org>
<http://bugs.python.org/issue9362>
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