[Edu-sig] Teaching Python at a Junior College Level

[Jason Cunliffe]

From: Steve Litt <slitt@troubleshooters.com>

> >However, my problem is not the language but in trying to get a broader
> >acceptance of Python as a language equivalent to BASIC in people's minds.
We
> >know that Python is better ('natch :-) but people responsible for
> >transferring the credit to another school often will ask for BASIC
> >specifically. Any ideas how to fix this problem?
>
> Could you get slick and teach "Basic using Python Design" -- spend 3/4 of
> the semester doing python, then say OK, here's how you do it in Basic (a
> window per object HOHO).

Not a bad idea really.
In fact some Python translates quite nicely to VisualBasic.

Perhaps another way to do it would be to do some COM programming, assuming
you are on Win32.
There are so many BASIC examples for ActiveX.
Translating these into Python could be fun and useful as long as your
students don't get too confused.

Or follow the examples in Mark Hammond's book and get Python talking to
Basic via COM.
This could perhaps open up a more productive and challenging discussion with
the students about the real world idea and issues of interfaces,
communications, objects, etc. COM is interesting in this respect and very
powerful. Python of course lets you play around interactively treating
everything as an object. So you could use it as a tool for discussing COM
and basic.

Maybe do some algorithmic stuff with Excel from python. Get the students
first to use Excel to do create some Macros, manually, then examine them,
and start to automate it in Python. See how elegant and powerful it can
become. The nice thing about Python & Excel is that you have a Command Line
Interpreter to try stuff out, but also the full-blooded Excel application is
right there to experiment with. Maybe use Python to script Excel and do some
calculations on lots of columns. Then move on and see if you even need Excel
at all using Python dictionaries, lists, classes by generalizing the same
job.

Perhaps this would be more acceptable to the powers that don't.

Plugging Python into it, demystifies COM by removing it from its MSBASIC
trappings to see what it really is. Also opens up the discussion for what MS
say they are trying to do with .NET.


- Jason