[Tutor] Simple Python Program

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Sun, 1 Aug 2010 04:35:03 am bob gailer wrote:
> Continue to avoid writing functions. They are not necessary for such
> a simple program.

That is *terrible* advice. Absolutely awful.

Functions should not be avoided unless necessary. Functions should be 
used unless there is a compelling reason to avoid them.

This is not 1972 any more, and we're not teaching kids to write 
spaghetti code with BASIC and GOTO. Functions, or their object-oriented 
equivalent methods, are *the* single most important feature of 
programming. And they're simple too -- they might not be the first 
thing you teach an absolute newbie who has never programmed before, but 
they're pretty close.



-- 
Steven D'Aprano