[issue20496] function definition tutorial encourages bad practice

[Alan Isaac]

New submission from Alan Isaac:

Section 4.6 of the tutorial introduces function definition:
http://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/controlflow.html#defining-functions

The first example defines a function that *prints* a Fibonacci series.

A basic mistake made by students new to programming is to use a function to print values rather than to return them.  In this sense, the example encourages bad practice and misses an opportunity to instruct.  Since they have already met lists in Section 3, I suggest that returning a list of the values and then printing the list would enhance the tutorial.

----------
assignee: docs at python
components: Documentation
messages: 210077
nosy: aisaac, docs at python
priority: normal
severity: normal
status: open
title: function definition tutorial encourages bad practice
type: enhancement

_______________________________________
Python tracker <report at bugs.python.org>
<http://bugs.python.org/issue20496>
_______________________________________