Feedback wanted on programming introduction (Python in Windows)

[Dann Corbit]

In article <XfWdnVPDB-3MkHTXnZ2dnUVZ8nVi4p2d at bt.com>, 
rjh at see.sig.invalid says...
> 
> In <MPG.255246264331509a989682 at news.eternal-september.org>, Dann 
> Corbit wrote:
> 
> <snip>
> > 
> > You can read PDF with the ghostscript stuff or the free Adobe stuff.
> 
> Agreed. But why should you have to?

As opposed to...?
PDF and PS are no more or less proprietary than any other format.  And 
Ghostscript is open source.

> > A man who cannot read .pdf or .ps in today's computer science world
> > is a crippled man (IMO-YMMV).
> 
> A man who doesn't particularly enjoy relying on proprietary non-text 
> formats, however, is not crippled, just cautious.

Since Ghostscript is an open source project, this is a non-sequitor.
 
> A man who cannot express what he needs to express /without/ resorting 
> to .pdf format is computer-illiterate.

You have two choices at citeseer:
PDF, PS.

All college papers are also posed in one of those two formats.

It takes me about 7 seconds to download the latest reader from 
Ghostscript/Ghostgum or Adobe.  If I need to know the guts of these 
formats, I can simply examine the Ghostscript guts.  Quite frankly, I 
don't care at all, since I am interested in the information content and 
find the method of delivery utterly irrelevant.

To me, the argument is like objecting to money because it is either 
paper or metal and you would prefer stone.

Everyone uses paper or metal and either is superior to stone anyway.
> <snip>