[Tutor] Python as Teaching Language

[Russel Winder]

On Mon, 2014-02-10 at 00:17 +0000, Alan Gauld wrote:
[…]
> And in my tutorial I deliberately don't teach many of the "standard" 
> Python idioms because I'm trying to teach programming rather than 
> Python. So if python has an insanely great way to do stuff but virtually 
> no other language has it I will ignore it. (Or more
> likely mention it as an aside/footnote.)

In the case of file handling and the with statement, indeed any resource
management, it is a standard idiom across languages so well worth
covering in Python: RAII in C++, ARM in Java, etc. 

> What's interesting (to me) is that I'm currently working on a new
> project aimed at beginners who have progressed beyond the first
> steps but are not confident in putting together a bigger program.
> That is allowing me to address many of the idiomatic aspects
> of Python that my first book didn't permit. It means that although there 
> is some overlap in coverage the style and content are quite different.
> 
> Context and target make a big difference in what and how you teach.

Definitely. Good luck with the new project.

-- 
Russel.
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