[Python-3000] Support for PEP 3131

["Martin v. Löwis"]

> I wish the debate would turn to actual use cases.  For
> example, one of the arguments behind PEP 3131 is that
> it will facilitate the use of Python in educational
> environments.  It would be interesting to hear from
> actual teachers what their biggest impediments to
> using Python are right now.  It could be that the lack
> of foreign language documentation is far bigger an
> impediment to using Python in a Chinese classroom than
> the current restrictions on ASCII identifiers.

I don't know whether you have seen

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/ccffec1abd4dd24d

which discusses these points precisely. See also a
few follow-up messages in that part of the thread.

FWIW, I don't think that foreign-language documentation
is lacking. I don't know about Chinese, but for
German, there is plenty of documentation. I wrote
a German Python book myself 10 years ago, and other
people have since written other books. A PowerPoint
presentation discussing Python for school can be
found at

http://ada.rg16.asn-wien.ac.at/~python/Py4KidsFolien1.ppt

Gregor Lingl is the author of "Python für Kids".

> It
> could be that the standard library involves knowing
> too much English, which PEP 3131 won't really address.
>  It could be that teachers simply want error messages
> to be internationalized, so that students can follow
> tracebacks, and identifiers aren't really an issue. 
> It could be that some foreign schools actually embrace
> the use of an English alphabet in Python, as it allows
> for a more integrated education opportunity (students
> learn an important programming language while
> simultaneously mastering one of the world's most
> commercially important written languages...).

Unfortunately, teachers don't participate
in python-3000, as don't many other Python users.
So it's unlikely that you find a teacher posting
*here*, it was pure luck that I found a Chinese
teacher posting on comp.lang.python. You would
need to go to places where teachers discuss
in the internet, which likely isn't even Usenet.
Not being a (high school) teacher myself, I don't
know how to find them.

Regards,
Martin