[Python-Dev] re: syntax - "Aren't tuples redundant?"

[David Ascher]

> > They're not structures the way a C programmer thinks of a
> struct or a pascal
> > programmer thinks of a record.
>
> That doesn't matter; I'd like to assume that we want to teach students
> who don't already have a preconceived notion of a Pascal record or C
> struct.

For CP4E, absolutely.  I was just reporting on my experience with existing
programmers not unlike Greg's (also with many fewer PhD's)[*].

> I have a feeling that introducing optional static typing would help
> here, because it clarifies the concept.

Very interesting point -- however, I think that we need a better answer in
general.  The question in my experience stems from a desire to minimize
memory load.  The students grok lists in about 30 seconds.  Then I explain
tuples, and they wonder why they were "added" given that lists "exist" (in
their brain at that time =).

--david

[*]: I did teach a course at Bank of America where 15 of the 16 people in
the room were Vice Presidents.  Of course, they were just programmers, but
the pay for a competent programmer is high in the hierarchy of bank
salaries. =)