[Tutor] WRITING XLS FROM OS.WALK()

[David Hutto]

On Sat, Oct 9, 2010 at 4:12 AM, Alan Gauld <alan.gauld at btinternet.com> wrote:
> "David Hutto" <smokefloat at gmail.com> wrote
>
>> > I'm sorry to tell you that you've just reinvented the wheel. This > was
>> > already solved, a long, long time ago. It is called the glob > module:
>>
>> Hey,  buddy pal. Isn't it true that newbs should take of advantage of
>> the fact that you have to solve the problem pythonically
>
> Thats a matter of great dispute. There is an old school that says you
> should learn to program in assembler (or even microcode) then move
> to C and then to Python(or similar) and finally to 4G languages.

Even old schooler though would be that we're just directing electrical
flow from an ac outlet through a dc converter and streaming it through
the circuit board though. Which is not as easy as it sounds!

> Then there is a new school that says life is too short, learn to
> program like a professional - use the highest level language you
> can and leverage the libraries.
>
> Personally I would say for the hobbyist, new-school is best. The real
> skill to learn is finding the best library and figuring out how to use it.

But I think higher level should be for productivity, but low level for
higher knowledge of the productivity.

> [For a pro doing a 4 year computing course then there is still a lot
> to be said in starting from  scratch and building up - they may
> have to do it that way someday on new hardware or creating a new OS,
> but an amateur is never likely to be building from scratch...]
>

Unless you're a technological masochist.

>> > You should use that. It works, it is tested and thoroughly > debugged,
>> > and
>> >  it is powerful.
>>
>> Certainly so, but not as powerful as the individual's ingenuity in
>> solving the problem at hand without foreknowledge of the 'known'
>> solution.
>
> That depends on how good the student is. It is very unlikely
> that the student will come up with anything close to globs
> power and flexibility on their first attempt. So if they want a learning
> exercise it might be an interesting task, but if they want to actually
> achieve a result they should use glob.
>
> Software reuse is a big issue in the industry just now and a lot
> of effort is being spent in getting software engineers out of the
> "not invented here" mentality and into the reuse mentality. So
> encouraging beginners to get into the habit of "scavenge and
> adapt" is actually in line with current industry thinking.

Then I'm apparently an industry thinker.

>
> Just as an alternative view... :-)
>
> --
> Alan Gauld
> Author of the Learn to Program web site
> http://www.alan-g.me.uk/
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tutor maillist  -  Tutor at python.org
> To unsubscribe or change subscription options:
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
>