Advice on teaching a 1 day Python class

[Tim Daneliuk]

djw wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I have been asked (OK, I volunteered) to teach a one day class on Python to
> a group of software engineers (typ. experience would be C, C++ and/or Java
> programming) at my company. I am fairly experienced with Python and could
> probably come up with some reasonable content, but I was wondering if
> anyone had any nuggets that I could dig up that would get me started? I was
> thinking that somebody has probably done this before and may have a
> slideset, class notes, or some such thing available for sharing. I have
> just about every Python book available, but I don't really think I could
> get through an entire book in one day, even in condessed form. My goal is
> to get people enough familiarity and confidence to get started using Python
> on their next project without hesitation. (World domination is a secondary
> goal.)
> 
> Any thoughts and/or suggestions?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Don
> 
> 

Skip the stuff that is common to these languages (simple control flow,
while and for statements, etc.) and spend time on how Python _differs_
(and is better than) the other languages the audience already knows.
Demonstrate the virtues of:

Indented Coding
List Comprehensions
Generators/Iterators
Complex/Heterogeneous Data Structures using List, Tuples, and Dicts
Ability for running program to take Python code as input and interpret/
   execute it.
Batteries Included

and so on ...

IOW, assume you audience is smart and already knows how to program,
and spend your time explaining the diffs between what they know
and what Python brings to the table.  It is better to cover the key
points well and whet their appetites than to try and cover too much
and end up doing nothing well.


-- 
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Tim Daneliuk     tundra at tundraware.com
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