[Python-Dev] xturtle.py

["Martin v. Löwis"]

python at rcn.com wrote:
> As a compromise. we could tack Gregor Lingl's module under 
> the Tools directory. This makes the tool more readily available 
> for student use and allows it a more liberal zone to evolve than 
> if it were in the standard library.

That could also work. See my other compromise proposal: advertising
it in the docs.

> One other thought -- at PyCon, I talked with a group of 
> educators.  While they needed some minor tweaks to the Turtle 
> module, there were no requests for an extensive rewrite or a 
> fatter API.  The name of the game was to have a single module 
> with a minimal toolset supporting a few simple programs, just 
> rich enough to inspire, but small enough to fit into tiny slots in 
> the curriculum (one sixth grade class gets is allocated three 55 
> minute sessions to learn programming).

Thanks for the report. xturtle does provide a fatter API; it goes
up from 50 turtle functions in turtle.py to 93 in xturtle.py
(counting with len([s for s in dir(turtle) if 'a' < s <'z']) - I
think turtle should grow an __all__ attribute).

Regards,
Martin