[Python-ideas] docs.python.org

[Devin Jeanpierre]

On Fri, Oct 26, 2012 at 6:22 PM, Terry Reedy <tjreedy at udel.edu> wrote:
> For beginners learning Python in classes, I suspect Python 3 is more used.
> (I certainly hope so ;-).

Instructors have their own kind of inertia. If they change major
versions, they no longer get to reuse old slides, they have to rewrite
old assignments, upgrade the automated test systems, and even just
plain learn Python 3, which is a challenge of its own (albeit a small
one.)  Remember also that must non-research instructors are vastly
overworked, and most research professors aren't exactly eager to burn
lots of time in course preparation either, since their job is not to
teach but to research.

Considering that the differences between Python 2 and 3 are irrelevant
for nearly any educational context, what's the payoff? The move is
just something they have to do eventually because of bug support
reasons, not something they are eager to do except out of some kind of
enthusiasm (which, admittedly, instructors often have -- shiny is
shiny.)

My university (the University of Toronto) has switched to Python 3 for
their new Coursera courses, because they involved writing material
from scratch anyway, so might as well make it futureproof. The regular
classes taught inside the university itself still use Python 2.7
(actually, they used Python 2.5 until the upgrade process a year and a
half ago, which I was a part of), and other than the coursera work, as
far as I am aware, no moves have been made to switch to Python 3.

They might also switch to another language entirely instead. They used
Racket in a couple of introductory courses last year, and I've heard
good things from faculty and students involved. It's a more viable
decision than it used to be, since a lot of work has to be done
regardless to switch to Python 3, so the inertial reason of staying
with Python is diminished. I don't think this will happen near-term,
because they're still investing in Python, but it was nice to see that
they were breaking out of their rut and trying new things.

-- Devin