Python education survey

[Rick Johnson]

On Dec 26, 10:11 am, Nathan Rice <nathan.alexander.r... at gmail.com>
wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 26, 2011 at 9:52 AM, Rick Johnson
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> <rantingrickjohn... at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Dec 25, 9:27 pm, Chris Angelico <ros... at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> On Mon, Dec 26, 2011 at 4:44 AM, Rick Johnson
> >> > [...]
> >> Conversely, why write an IDE into IDLE when perfectly-good IDEs
> >> already exist? I don't use IDLE for development per se; it's for
> >> interactive Python execution, but not editing of source files.
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> > I believe the answer is two fold:
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> > 1. Including an IDE like IDLE into the Python distro helps noobs to
> > get started quickly without needing to traverse a gauntlet of unknown
> > IDEs on their own. If later they find something that they feel is more
> > appropriate; so be it.
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> > 2. (and most important to me... IDLE is written in Python using the
> > Tkinter GUI (which ships with python also). Therefore, the source code
> > for IDLE can be a GREAT teaching resource for how to write
> > professional Tkinter applications. I KNOW THE CURRENT SOURCE SUCKS!
> > However, we could change that.
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> > So, with those points being covered, i believe IDLE is very important
> > to the Python community and could be useful to more people IF we clean
> > it up a bit. It's really a great little IDE with even greater
> > potential. If Guido would just say something (or at least some of the
> > top Pythionistas (Hettinger i am looking at you!)) this community
> > might work together to fix this problem.
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> Not everyone who has Python installed wants to learn the language.

I'll admit you make a very valid point. But since "they" are not
familiar with the language, what they don't know cannot hurt them.
Although i do see a need to keep the core distro small. If we remove
IDLE then we face the next big question... Should we remove Tkinter?

> I
> do think that a "learning" distro that has a lot of core tools
> pre-installed, and ships with some tutorials, would be a decent idea.
> Sort of like Enthought for new users :)

This is the kind of inventiveness i have been looking for in this
group. I think this is a great idea!

>  I don't feel IDLE is worth salvaging though.

Agreed. Not in it's current state anyway.