[Python-Dev] Cleaning-up the new unittest API

[Terry Reedy]

On 11/2/2010 10:05 AM, C. Titus Brown wrote:

> ...but, as someone who has to figure out how to teach stuff to CSE undergrads
> (and biology grads) I hate the statement "...any programmer should
> expect this..."

And indeed I (intentionally) did not say that. People who are ignorant 
and inexperienced about something should avoid making expectations in 
any direction until they have read the doc and experimented a bit.

What I did say in the post you responded to is "Any programmer who sorts 
(or uses functions that depend on proper sorting) should know and 
respect the difference between partial orders, such as set inclusion, 
and total orders, such as lex order of sequences." I should hope that 
you teach the difference, or rather, help students to notice what they 
already know. Tell them to consider that difference between sorting 
people by a totally ordered characteristic like height or weight and a 
characteristic that is at best partially ordered, like hair color or 
ethical character. Or have them consider the partial order dependencies 
between morning get-ready-for-class activities (socks before shoes 
versus pants and shirt in either order). They already do topological 
sorting every day, even if the name seems fancy.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy