Feedback wanted on programming introduction (Python in Windows)
Alf P. Steinbach
alfps at start.no
Thu Oct 29 23:17:43 EDT 2009
* bartc:
>
> "Alf P. Steinbach" <alfps at start.no> wrote in message
> news:hc8pn3$ddn$1 at news.eternal-september.org...
>> [Cross-posted comp.programming and comp.lang.python]
>
>> 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.
>
> Have you ever done technical writing before? With positive feedback?
Yes, and yes.
> You use the highly commercial-looking activatestate website; what's
> wrong with www.python.org?
I guess "commercial looking" is something negative.
Please note regarding the question: I'm not a telepath. I don't know what you
think is wrong with [www.python.org]. And I have no interest in evaluating the
site for you, at least not unless you pay me for that job.
> You say elsewhere that you're not specifically teaching Python, but the
> text is full of technical details specific to both Python
Yes. A programming language is required to do programming. Can't do without it,
sorry.
> and Windows,
> not much actual programming!
Hm. There's /only/ programming in there and nothing else so far. But given that
you think programming can be done without a programming language, I hypothesize
that there is something to learn for you about what programming is. :-)
> Python has a lot of baggage which is OK if that's what's going to be
> used, but otherwise is unnecessary confusion: where to put the program
> code (typed in live or in a file, or some combination); whether to call
> the file .py or .pyw; the difference between console and graphical
> programs and so on.
Well.
Cheers & hth.,
- Alf
More information about the Python-list
mailing list