Feedback wanted on programming introduction (Python in Windows)

[Chris Rebert]

On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 11:52 PM, Alf P. Steinbach <alfps at start.no> wrote:
> [Cross-posted comp.programming and comp.lang.python]
>
> Hi.
>
> I may finally have found the perfect language for a practically oriented
> introductory book on programming, namely Python.
>
> C++ was way too complex for the novice, JScript and C# suffered from too
> fast-changing specifications and runtime environment, Java, well, nothing
> particularly wrong but it's sort of too large and unwieldy and inefficient.
>
> I don't know whether this will ever become an actual book. I hope so!
>
> But since I don't know much Python -- I'm *learning* Python as I write -- I
> know that there's a significant chance of communicating misconceptions,
> non-idiomatic ways to do things, bad conventions, etc., in addition to of
> course plain errors of fact and understanding in general, to which I'm not
> yet immune...
>
> So I would would be very happy for feedback.
<snip>
>
>    http://preview.tinyurl.com/progintro
>
> Cheers,
>
> - Alf
>
> PS: Please use the groups, this thread, for feedback; not e-mail. -DS

- The slogan is "batteries included", not "all batteries included".
- As a user of the platform, I can tell you it's "Mac OS X" (with a
space, not a slash).
- ActivePython is a distribution, not an implementation. It's just the
standard CPython from python.org with some bundled extras.
- I might consider making the first example multiline. Most cringe at
the use of semicolons in a Python program, although I can understand
it might be easier for the newbie to type correctly.
- You might mention how unit testing is used in interpreted languages
to detect many sorts of errors detected by the compiler in compiled
languages

Cheers,
Chris
--
http://blog.rebertia.com