[Tutor] Online class/education for Python?

[wesley chun]

> At $88 for 500 pages it had better be good or he will be stuxck
> with academic-only sales!


well, the other thing is that the 2nd review will really make ppl go
back to the original title since it's $18 vs. $88 for the (apparently)
same material, both academic and general sales. i can't imagine why
anyone would get the latter, hence what i think will drive sales all
to the former. it's fortunate that there are currently a lot of copies
out there, but again, this behavior is rarely the work of the author,
who has much less control over their material than one would
ordinarily believe.

another alternative that many have already recommended is How to Think
Like a Computer Scientist.  the 1st edition is available both in-print
and online, but the 2nd edition is only available online (for now).

1st: http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/thinkCSpy/
2nd: http://openbookproject.net/thinkCSpy

oh, if there were only some other alternative for complete newbies to
programmers... say, um, a 2nd edition of Learn to Program?!? (yeah, i
keep teasing about this but i am kinda serious in some ways too [altho
i'm aware of the work involved in such an endeavor].) :)

on a tangential note, i may be asked to teach a private course to
individuals who have never formally learned to program before, and i'm
participating in this thread for a number of reasons, including the
fact that i'm trying to come up with a supplemental textbook to use in
addition to my course notes. i had envisioned the dawson book, but if
it's going OoP, i will have to come up with alternatives.

cheers,
-wesley