Introducing Kids to Programming: 2 or 3?

[Aahz]

[posted & e-mailed]

[chiming in late]

In article <mailman.1095.1285602516.29448.python-list at python.org>,
Marco Gallotta  <marco at gallotta.co.za> wrote:
>
>I'm sure you get a lot of "2 or 3" questions, but here's another.
>Umonya [1] uses Python to introduce school kids to programming. The
>initiative is only 15 months old and up till now we've been using
>existing notes and exercises and thus Python 2. But we're at the stage
>where we can either stick with 2 for the next few years, or go to 3
>now.
>
>We received a grant from Google to reach 1,000 kids in South Africa
>with our course in 2011. People have also shown interest in running
>the course in Croatia, Poland and Egypt. We're also eyeing developing
>African countries in the long-term. As such, we're taking the time now
>to write our very own specialised course notes and exercises, and we
>this is why we need to decide *now* which path to take: 2 or 3? As we
>will be translating the notes we'll probably stick with out choice for
>the next few years.

One reason not otherwise mentioned is that overall Unicode support is
better in Python 3, and given your international audience, that's a
strong point in favor of Python 3.
-- 
Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>         http://www.pythoncraft.com/

"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait
until you hire an amateur."  --Red Adair