[python-advocacy] lean py in 3 min

[Carl Karsten]

per day. for months.  maybe even years.

Like most mornings, had a thought but this one seemed worth posting.

Diving into a new language is a big daunting task.  you either put everything on 
hold, or do it half way, or some combination that gives you the worst of both.

What if one could could learn python with an insignificant impact on your daily 
activities?

Each day (maybe only M-F), be introduced to some small little factoid that takes 
about a min to read, and maybe another min to ponder, and in some cases a 3rd to 
  play with at the >>> prompt.  In the event that you need help, have some 
community of peers that you can turn to.  For those that are uncomfortable 
asking a question, there would be others that would hopefully ask the same 
question.

Of course this means the lesson of the day needs to be created, and better come 
up with a road map (day 2 should probably not introduce yield.)  It may be as 
easy as chopping up http://docs.python.org/tut/tut.html, and maybe adding a "do 
this at the >>>".  The nice thing is the initial push would really only need to 
be the map and then 2 or 3 days worth.  (1 just seems to be a bit thin.)  Then 
some group needs to just make sure they pump out an average of one a day.  5 in 
the group means one per week.  20 in the group and you are down to one per month.

I envision a mail list like setup, where people subscribe to the list, get their 
lesson of the day emailed to them.  not sure how the 'help' should be setup. 
easy way: hit reply, goes to the list.  kinda breaks the 1 min per day model I 
was hoping for.  hate to say it, but a web forum would make it easier to tune 
in/out the help chatter.  (im not a big fan of web forums.  I like mail lists.)

I also envision not letting people start whenever they want.  better to have a 
'large group' (30?  300?)  all getting the same lesson so that the help 
community is in sync.  So people sign up, and once some threshold is hit,  close 
the list, start sending lessons and open a new list.  There are some edge cases 
that don't seem too important like should we let people on one list slide back 
to a later list if they go on vacation.  that will be a great problem to have, 
cuz it means there was enough interest to start not just one but 2 lists :)

OK, got that off my mind and into the archives.  maybe someday it can be 
implemented.

Carl K