Feedback wanted on programming introduction (Python in Windows)

Jon Clements joncle at googlemail.com
Wed Oct 28 05:20:15 EDT 2009


On 28 Oct, 08:58, "Alf P. Steinbach" <al... at start.no> wrote:
[snip]
> Without reference to an OS you can't address any of the issues that a beginner
> has to grapple with, including most importantly tool usage, without which it's
> not even possible to get started, but also, very importantly, a file system.
>
> Learning programming without tools and without using files (or only using the
> common denominator for file systems in OSes X, Y and Z) is sort of vacuous...
>
> In addition there's the motivational factor.

I certainly agree that focusing on Windows, you may be able to suggest
certain tools. IDE's, RAD environments, etc... However, I'm sure you
would consider that if you were writing a C++ guide, you would promote
portability and the STL. Of course, both languages offer platform-
specific libraries. Maybe a 'down side' with Python is that the
"batteries included" also include some functions marked in the
documentation as "Available on Windows only" etc... And specifically
suggesting an ActiveState install which includes COM interop etc...
(although I hope this would appear much later, if at all).

Cheers,

Jon.

PS. Can I suggest PSpad as an editor for the Windows environment, I
much prefer it to Notepad++ and it may well be worth mentioning.






More information about the Python-list mailing list